Library  of 
The  University  of  North  Carolina 


COLLECTION  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINIANA 


ENDOWED  BY 

♦         JOHN  SPRUNT  HILL 

of  the  Class  of  1889 


-JlSb 


-f,?^ 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


000321 95 160_ 

This  book  must 
be  taken  from 
Library  building. 


Form  No.  471 


UE.^WS 


Hr/9-^,-v^t' 


HISTORY  OF 
ANDREW  JACKSON 


HISTORY  OF 
ANDREW  JACKSON 

PIONEER,    PATRIOT,    SOLDIER, 
POLITICIAN,    PRESIDENT 


BY 


AUGUSTUS   C.   BUELL 

AUTHOR  OP^ 
PAUL   JONES,    FOUNDER   OF   THE   AMERICAN   NAVY 


WITH  PORTRAITS 


IN    TWO    VOLUMES 
VOLUME    II 


NEVl^    YORK 
CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1904 


Copyright,  1904,  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Published,  0;=tober,  1904 


TROW   DIRECTORY 

PRmilNQ   AND    BOOKBINDINQ   COMPANY 

NEW   YORK 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I 

PAGE 

Battle  of  New  Orleans i 


CHAPTER   n 
After  the  Great  Victory 32 

CHAPTER    HI 
British  Designs  in  Louisiana 70 

CHAPTER   IV 
Honors  for  a  National  Hero 98 

CHAPTER   V 
Governor  of  Florida <,       .122 

CHAPTER   VI 
Presidential  Candidate 151 

CHAPTER   VII 
Elected  to  the  Presidency 178 

r-  V 

0^ 


vi  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    VIII 

PAGE 

Policy  of  the  New  Administration        .       .       .       .207 


CHAPTER  IX 
Union  and  Nullification 233 

CHAPTER   X 
Re-elected  to  the  Presidency 264 

CHAPTER   XI 

War  with  the  United  States  Bank       .       .       .       .294 

CHAPTER   XII 
Foreign  Affairs  and  Retirement 329 

CHAPTER  XIII 
Party  Leader  at  the  Hermitage 356 

CHAPTER   XIV 
Character  and  Personality 383 

Index 4^3 


HISTORY  OF 
ANDREW  JACKSON 


HISTORY   OF 
ANDREW   JACKSON 

CHAPTER   I 

BATTLE    OF   NEW    ORLEANS 

General  Pakenham  held  his  last  council  of  war  the 
evening  of  January  7th.  It  was  made  up  of  Generals 
Keane,  Gibbs  and  Lambert  and  Colonels  Thornton  and 
Mullens.  Admirals  Cochrane  and  Malcolm  were  also 
present.  The  situation  was  discussed  thoroughly  and 
minutely.  Among  the  facts  developed  was  that  the  real 
weakness  of  General  Jackson's  force  had  been  to  some 
extent  ascertained.  At  all  events,  the  ridiculous  exag- 
gerations that  had  hitherto  been  believed  were  largely 
discounted.  The  British  general  had  also  found  out  that 
a  great  part  of  the  American  army  was  raw  militia,  and 
also  that  many  of  these  were  very  imperfectly  armed, 
if  at  all. 

We  need  not  seek  very  far  for  his  sources  of  informa- 
tion. Almost  every  Spaniard  in  and  about  New  Orleans 
was  hostile  to  the  United  States  and,  therefore,  friendly 
to  the  British.  Some  of  them  knew  that  British  con- 
quest meant  permanent  occupation  under  the  guise  of 
restoring  and  protecting  the  interests  of  Spain ;  for  Great 

Britain  had  always  denied  the  validity  alike  of  Spain's 
Vol.  II.— I  I 


2         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

recession  of  Louisiana  to  France  by  the  secret  treaty 
of  San  Ildefonso  and  of  Napoleon's  sale  of  the  territory 
to  the  United  States;  and  the  Spaniards  thought  that 
British  occupation  might  in  some  degree  restore  the  pro- 
consulships  they  had  formerly  enjoyed.  They  were, 
therefore,  throughout  the  campaign,  a  nest  of  spies  and 
sedition-breeders.  Completely  to  prevent  them  from 
carrying  on  covert  communication  with  the  British  was 
impossible.  Through  them  General  Pakenham  learned 
finally — when  it  was  too  late — the  vast  numerical  in- 
feriority of  General  Jackson's  army  to  his  own.  He 
learned  from  them  also  of  the  great  preponderance  the 
militia  held  in  the  American  force.*  No  British  officer 
of  rank  enough  to  be  present  at  that  council  of  war 
nad  any  experience  that  qualified  him  to  comprehend  the 
difference  between  ordinary  militia  and  the  grim  marks- 
men of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  who  defended  more 
than  half  of  the  American  line.     General  Keane,  indeed, 

*  A  story  has  found  much  historical  credence  to  the  effect  that  the  British 
general  was  led  to  select  for  attack  the  left  half  of  the  American  lines,  by 
ad\ice  of  a  "deserter,"  who  informed  him  that  the  force  stationed  there  was 
"raw  militia,  without  uniforms  and  armed  only  with  hunting-guns";  also 
that,  after  the  sad  experience  of  two  attacks  upon  this  "raw  militia,"  the 
British  soldiers  conceived  that  the  soi-disant  "deserter"  was  a  spy  sent  by 
General  Jackson  to  lure  them  on  to  ruin;  and  finally  that  the  British  sol- 
diers, without  court-martial  or  even  orders  from  their  proper  commanders, 
"seized  the  fellow  and  hanged  him  to  a  tree  \\'ithin  plain  sight  of  the  American 
lines!" 

This  story  seems  to  have  found  credence  with  Dr.  Frost,  Judge  Walker, 
Mr.  Parton  and  others  who  have  written  about  General  Jackson  since  his 
death.  It  did  not  attract  the  attention  of  earlier  writers,  was  not  ob- 
served by  men  who  WTOte  from  the  viewpoint  of  eye-witnesses  on  either 
side,  and  escaped  the  notice  of  General  Jackson  himself  and  of  the  surviving 
British  general,  Lambert — neither  of  whom  reports  such  occurrence  oflS- 
cially.  It  escaped  even  the  hawk -like  vision  of  Ogihy  on  one  side  and 
the  keen  sense  of  the  dramatic  that  characterized  Captains  Cooke  and  Cos- 
tello  and  Mr.  Burroughs  on  the  other.     Moreover,  it  represents  the  rank 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  3 

had  monitory  memories  of  December  23d,  and  Colonel 
Mullens  knew  enough  about  American  riflemen  to  say, 
when  direct  assault  was  decided  upon :  "Gentlemen,  my 
regiment  [the  Forty-fourth]  will  have  the  head  of  col- 
umn to-morrow.     You  are  sending  it  to  execution!" 

But  Keane  was  reminded  that  December  23d  was  a 
night-battle — a  mere  Indian  fight,  so  to  speak;  while 
Mullens  was  silenced  by  an  almost  angry  retort  from 
General  Gibbs,  who  exclaimed : 

"Gentlemen,  I  have  no  patience  with  anyone  who 
argues  that  the  men  who  stormed  Ciudad  Rodrigo  and 
Badajos  can  be  halted  by,  much  less  repulsed  from,  a 
low  log  breastwork  manned  by  a  backwoods  rabble!"* 

Poor  Gibbs!  He  was  fated  to  know  better  within  a 
few  hours! 

We  have  seen  that  in  a  previous  council  of  war,  Gen- 

and  file  of  a  British  army  as  resorting  to  what  might  be  termed  ''lynch 
law." 

To  any  one  conversant  with  the  discipline  and  the  systematic  adminis- 
tration of  military  law  in  the  British  army,  this  would  seem  intrinsically 
improbable,  without  other  negative  evidence.  The  true  reason  why  General 
Pakenham  selected  the  left  centre  of  Jackson's  position  as  his  point  of  assault 
was  doubtless  stated  by  Captain  Hill  in  his  narrative:  "Previous  operations 
and  reconnaissance  had  developed  the  fact  that  no  artillery  was  mounted  in 
that  part  of  the  American  lines;  also  that  the  ditch  there  was  narrower  and 
the  parapet  lower  than  elsewhere.  Besides,  two  Spanish  residents  of  New 
Orleans,  who  made  their  way  out  of  the  American  cordon  during  the  night 
of  the  6th  [Messrs.  Galvez  and  Alzar — Author.]  had  informed  General 
Pakenham  most  positively  that  the  whole  left  half  of  the  works  was  held 
by  mihtia  imperfectly  organized,  not  regularly  armed  and  totally  unprovided 
with  bayonets." 

This  was  true.  But  it  is  perfectly  certain  that  neither  Mr.  Galvez  nor 
Mr.  Alzar  was  hanged;  because  both  were  sent  on  to  Havana  a  day  or  two 
after  the  battle,  and  both  returned  to  New  Orleans  soon  after  the  procla- 
mation of  peace.  The  origin  of  the  story  is  quite  obscure.  It  did  not  appear 
in  any  contemporaneous  account,  and  its  first  publication  seems  to  have 
occurred  in  1824. 

*  Papers  in  the  court-martial  of  Colonel  Mullens. 


4         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

I? 
eral  Pakenham  decided  upon  "regular  approaches."  In- 
vestigation proved  that  parallels  could  not  be  laid  in  the 
water-soaked  soil  of  the  delta ;  and  the  experience  of 
January  ist  demonstrated  the  futility  of  sugar  hogs- 
heads for  sap-rolling.  Only  one  mode  of  approach  was 
left :  that  mode  was  in  column  of  assault,  with  breasts 
bared. 

Among  the  things  resolved  upon  at  this  council  of 
war  was  that  a  lodgment  should  be  effected  upon  the 
right  bank  of  the  river.  So  long  as  the  little  Carolina, 
with  her  ''cargo  of  cannon,"  was  afloat  and  the  simi- 
larly bristling  Louisiana  was  capable  of  action,  they  could 
command  the  river  and  thereby  prevent  any  attempt  of 
the  British  to  throw  a  force  across  it.  But  now  the 
Carolina  was  no  more  and  the  Louisiana  had  been  put 
out  of  action  by  the  howitzer-battery  on  the  levee. 
Therefore  it  was  resolved  to  send  Colonel  Thornton  over 
with  a  force  made  up  of  the  Royal  Marines,  the  Eighty- 
fifth  Light  Infantry  and  small  detachments  from  other 
parts  of  General  Lambert's  reserve,  with  instructions  to 
take  the  line  that  had  been  intrenched  there,  capture 
Commodore  Patterson's  annoying  battery  of  i8-pounders 
and  sweep  up  the  river-bank  toward  the  city.  The  fact 
that  only  980  men  were  assigned  to  Thornton  for  this 
important  duty  is  somewhat  conclusive  evidence  that 
General  Pakenham  had  at  last  been  correctly  informed 
as  to  the  real  strength — or  weakness — of  his  adversary; 
convincing  circumstantial  testimony  that  the  Spanish 
spies  inside  of  the  American  lines  had  done  their  work 
well. 

Thornton  was  doubtless  the  ablest  and — except,  per- 
haps, Gibbs — the  most  dashing  officer  in  the  British  force 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  5 

at  New  Orleans.  Wounded  and  captured  by  some  Mary- 
land farmers  armed  with  shot-guns  while  reconnoitring 
at  Bladensburg  six  months  before  and  exchanged  for 
Commodore  Barney,  he  was  now  naturally  ambitious 
to  efface  the  stain  of  such  a  mishap  in  such  a  ''battle" 
as  Bladensburg. 

Jackson  himself  was  not  destitute  of  information. 
During  the  night  of  January  6th  three  deserters  from  the 
British  came  into  his  lines.  Nominally  they  were  prison- 
ers, having  voluntarily  surrendered  to  our  outposts,  to 
whom  they  stated  their  real  purpose.  They  were  all 
Irishmen ;  one  from  the  Fourth  Foot,  one  from  the  Royal 
Fusiliers  and  one  from  the  Ninety-fifth  Rifles.  Literro- 
gating  them  separately,  the  General  found  that,  though 
belonging  to  different  regiments,  stationed  on  different 
parts  of  the  picket-line  and  coming  in  at  different  hours, 
they  all  told  the  same  story.  Their  information  cor- 
roborated what  Jackson  himself  had  inferred  from  his 
own  observations  during  the  afternoon  of  the  6th. 

He  had  spent  most  of  that  afternoon  in  the  little 
observatory  on  top  of  the  Macarte  house  watching  the 
British  camp,  two  and  a  half  miles  away,  through  a  long 
pilot-glass  borrowed  from  Commodore  Patterson.  Part 
of  the  time  the  Commodore  was  with  him.  They  had 
noticed  unusual  activity  in  the  British  camp  which  they 
interpreted  to  mean  signs  of  a  decisive  movement.  The 
Commodore  thought  it  might  mean  an  intention  to  with- 
draw from  their  position  and  abandon  the  campaign,  at 
least  from  that  base  of  operations.  He  suggested  that 
perhaps  the  British  commander  had  decided  to  abandon 
Lake  Borgne  as  an  avenue  of  approach  and  make  a  new 
movement  of  army  and  fleet  in  concert  up  the  river. 


6         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Jackson  did  not  believe  this  to  be  the  British  plan.  He 
thought  they  were  packing  up  their  heavy  baggage  and 
camp-equipage  for  a  movement  toward  New  Orleans 
which  would  involve  storming  his  lines. 

The  three  deserters,  unanimously  and  without  prompt- 
ing or  collusion,  corroborated  Jackson's  inferences.  They 
told  him  that  at  roll-call,  the  morning  of  the  6th,  the 
commander  of  every  company  had  assured  his  men  that 
the  army  would  be  in  New  Orleans  within  forty-eight 
hours  and  all  their  hardships  and  privations  would  be 
ended. 

Jackson  asked  them  if  their  company  officers  had  held 
out  to  them  the  promise  or  prospect  of  sacking  the  town, 
as  Wellington's  army  in  Spain  had  done  at  Badajos, 
Ciudad  Rodrigo  and  San  Sebastian. 

They  answered  that  no  such  promise  had  been  made 
in  so  many  words,  but  the  universal  belief  among  Paken- 
ham's  soldiers  was  that  they  were  to  have  their  way  for 
at  least  twenty-four  hours  after  the  city  should  be  taken. 

Jackson  said  "the  British  soldiers  would  be  welcome 
to  do  what  they  pleased  when  they  took  the  town!" 

From  his  own  observations  the  afternoon  of  the  6th 
and  the  corroborative  statements  of  the  deserters  that 
night,  the  General  thought  the  attack  might  come  some 
time  the  7th  and  was  prepared  for  it.  But  when  Satur- 
day wore  away,  with  nothing  more  formidable  than  con- 
tinued bustle  and  hubbub  in  the  British  camp,  he  con- 
cluded that  Sunday,  the  8th,  would  prove  to  be  the  chosen 
day.  All  these  preliminaries  make  a  long  story,  but  it 
is  not  half  so  tedious  as  the  waiting  was  to  those  weather- 
beaten  and  unkempt  frontiersmen  who  nursed  their  long 
rifles  and  bided  their  time.     Gibbs  had  described  them 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  7 

graphically  and,  from  the  'Regular"  point  of  view,  truth- 
fully, when  he  called  them  "a  backwoods  rabble."  But 
they  were  more  intent  upon  acts  than  upon  appearances, 
more  bent  on  execution  than  on  ''style."  All  they  wanted 
was — as  Coffee  wrote  to  his  wife — to  "see  the  redcoats 
within  fair  buck-range!" 

Sunday  morning,  January  8th,  dawned  through  some- 
what more  than  the  usual  veil  of  fog  and  mist  over 
the  banks  of  the  lower  river  at  that  time  of  year.  At 
sunrise  by  the  almanac  the  keenest  eye  could  not  pene- 
trate the  gloom  a  hundred  feet  from  the  works.  In 
anticipation  of  this  the  outposts  had  been  doubled  soon 
after  midnight  and  also  connected  with  the  works  by 
lines  of  signal-men  in  readiness  to  transmit,  as  rapidly 
as  human  voices  could  repeat  it  from  one  to  another,  the 
first  note  of  alarm.  But  none  came.  All  that  the  out- 
posts and  vedettes  reported  was,  from  about  four  o'clock 
on,  muffled  sounds  as  of  troops  moving  and  assembling 
under  cover  of  the  dense  fog. 

"About  three  o'clock,  or  as  soon  as  the  modification 
of  positions  on  the  left  of  our  line  was  completed," 
said  General  William  O.  Butler,*  in  a  reminiscence  re- 
lated to  the  author  in  1874,  'T  went  as  fast  as  I  could 

*  At  New  Orleans  General  Butler  was  a  captain  and  brevet-major  in  the 
regular  army.  After  the  battle  of  December  23d,  he  was  serving  tempo- 
rarily as  militar}''  secretary  or  aide-de-camp  to  General  Jackson,  in  place  of 
his  elder  brother,  Major  Thomas  L.  Butler,  also  of  the  regular  army, 
who  had  been  assigned  to  other  duty.  The  next  year  he  became  per- 
manent chief-of-staff  to  General  Jackson  and  served  as  such  in  the  second 
invasion  of  Spanish  Florida.  In  the  Mexican  war  he  was  major-general 
and  succeeded  General  Scott  in  command  of  the  American  forces  in  the 
city  of  Mexico.  Born  at  Harrodsburg,  Kentucky,  in  May,  1791,  he  died  at 
Carrollton,  in  August,  1880,  in  his  ninetieth  year.  In  1874,  when  the 
author  visited  him,  he  was  eighty-three,  with  every  faculty  perfect,  physically 
as  well  as  mentally. 


8         HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

toward  the  Macarte  house  to  report.  I  met  the  General, 
with  a  group  of  staff-officers,  just  descending  from  the 
porch.  I  reported  simply — 'It  is  done,  sir.  General 
Adair  is  in  the  designated  position.* 

"  ^Anything  particular  going  on  ?'  he  inquired  in  a 
careless  way. 

"  'Nothing,  sir,  except  that  the  outposts  report  some 
signs  of  activity  in  their  front,'  I  replied. 

''  *Yes,  yes,'  he  rejoined  quickly  and  with  great  ani- 
mation, 'they  mean  to  attack  in  force  this  morning.  But 
I  think  they  will  wait  for  the  fog  to  scale  up.  They 
will  hardly  come  on  till  they  can  see  where  they  are 
going.  Our  fellows  or  the  Indians  would  think  this  fog 
a  good  thing  if  they  wanted  to  make  an  attack,  but  it 
would  be  contrary  to  the  rules  the  English  fight  by.' 

"No  one  offered  any  suggestion.  The  General  gave 
directions  in  a  low  tone  to  each  member  of  the  staff 
and  they  went  away  in  different  directions.  He  himself 
walked  from  the  Macarte  house  to  the  nearest  point 
on  the  line,  which  was  Battery  No.  3,  about  two  hundred 
yards.  He  was  accompanied  by  Captain  Humphrey, 
chief  of  artillery,  Mr.  Livingston  and  myself.  His  or- 
derly, Billy  Phillips,  also  followed,  leading  the  General's 
horse  in  readiness  for  him  to  mount  instantly,  should 
occasion  require.  When  we  reached  the  battery,  which 
was  the  one  held  by  the  Baratarian  smugglers,  General 
Jackson  observed  that  they  were  making  coffee  in  an 
iron  pot  over  a  small  fire. 

''  That  smells  like  better  coffee  than  we  can  get,'  the 
General  remarked.  Then,  turning  to  Dominique  You, 
he  inquired :  'Where  do  you  get  such  fine  coffee  ?  May- 
be you  smuggled  it?' 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  9 

"  *Mebbe  so,  Zhenerale,'  rejoined  Dominique  with  a 
grin.  The  Baratarian  chief  then  offered  the  General  a 
small  tin-cupful  from  the  pot.  It  was  black  as  tar  and 
its  aroma  could  be  smelled  twenty  yards  away.  Jackson 
drank  it  with  gusto,  thanked  Dominique  and  then  walked 
slowly  toward  the  left  of  the  line.  T  wish  I  had  fifty 
such  guns  on  this  line,  with  five  hundred  such  devils  as 
those  fellows  are  at  their  butts!'  he  said,  as  soon  as  we 
were  out  of  ear-shot  from  Battery  No.  3. 

'The  General  walked  slowly  along  the  line,  stopping 
often  to  talk  with  officers  and  men.  It  was  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  from  Battery  No.  3  to  the  place  where 
our  line  went  into  the  swamp.  He  was  nearly  an  hour 
going  over  it.  After  some  talk  with  General  Coffee, 
who  was  at  the  edge  of  the  swamp,  General  Jackson 
started  back  toward  the  right.  When  he  reached  the 
point  where  Adair's  and  Carroll's  lines  joined,  which  was 
near  the  last  battery — No.  8 — he  stopped,  sat  down  on 
a  log  and  dictated  some  orders  which  Mr.  Livingston 
and  I  wrote  down.  At  this  time  the  men  were  getting 
their  breakfast." 

[At  this  point,  as  this  was  a  newspaper  interview,  the 
author  asked  General  Butler  what  the  men  had  for  break- 
fast the  morning  of  the  8th  of  January.] 

'*0h,"  he  replied,  "they  had  plenty,  such  as  it  was: 
bacon,  corn-bread,  and  some  of  them  sweet  potatoes. 
The  Creole  soldiers  mostly  had  coffee.  It  was  not  a 
ration  then,  and  since  the  blockade  became  effective,  it 
and  tea  also  were  scarce  and  high-priced.  But  the  Cre- 
oles managed  to  get  some.  It  was  sent  or  brought  to 
them  by  their  friends  in  the  city.  The  Tennesseeans 
and  Kentuckians  did  not  have  much  coffee.     But  there 


lo       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

was  plenty  of  whiskey  and  they  drank  grog  with  their 
breakfasts. 

"It  was  astonishing  to  see  how  many  men — private 
soldiers — the  General  could  call  by  name.  He  knew 
almost  every  Tennesseean  and  at  least  half  the  Kentuck- 
ians.  His  manner  with  them  was  easy;  a  modern  gen- 
eral would  call  it  familiar.  Still  he  was  dignified,  and 
they  all  seemed  to  understand  him.  I  remember  his 
rallying  one  of  the  young  Robertsons — grandson  of  the 
old  pioneer.  Robertson  was  quite  young.  He  belonged 
to  Polk's  company  [of  Carroll's  command — Author]. 
*Joe/  said  the  General,  'how  are  they  using  you? 
Wouldn't  you  rather  be  with  Aunt  Lucy  [meaning  his 
mother]  than  with  me?' 

"  'Not  by  a  d d  sight,  General,'  young  Joe  stoutly 

replied.  'But  I  wouldn't  mind  if  Aunt  Lucy  was  here 
a  little  while!'  Jackson  laughed,  patted  the  boy  on  the 
shoulder  and  said :  'Stick  to  'em,  Joe.  We'll  smash 
h — 1  out  of  'em  and  then  you  can  go  home  to  Aunt 
Lucy.'  This  was  one  of  many  similar  scenes  that  morn- 
ing— or  any  other  time  when  he  went  along  the  line. 

"By  this  time,  according  to  the  almanac,  it  ought  to 
have  been  broad  daylight,  but  the  fog  was  so  dense  you 
couldn't  see  more  than  forty  yards  in  any  direction.  It 
was  a  weird  scene.  The  little  fires  the  men  had  made 
behind  the  breastwork  smouldered.  The  men  themselves 
in  the  gray  mist  looked  like  ghosts.  At  this  moment 
Major  Latour  joined  us,  coming  to  report  to  Jackson 
that  the  new  work  he  had  ordered  done  on  the  redoubt 
was  finished  and  that  the  works  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river  were  in  defensible  condition.  Latour,  like  most 
civil  engineers,  was  a  weather-prophet,  and  familiar  with 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  ii 

that  country.     He  said  the  fog  would  Hft  in  an  hour  and 
explained  the  signs  that  caused  him  to  think  so. 

"The  General  then  sent  his  orderly,  mounted,  to  the 
Macarte  house  to  fetch  Commodore  Patterson's  pilot- 
glass,   which   he  had   forgotten   when   he  came   away. 
Quite  a  breeze  from  the  northwest  now  sprang  up,  and 
as   the    works    ran   about    northeast   and    southwest    it 
drifted  the  fog  toward  the  enemy.    All  at  once  two  shots 
were  heard   in  quick   succession,   sounding  muffled-like 
through  the  fog,   from  the  edge  of  the  swamp  some 
distance  in  front  of  the  lines.     They  were  not  repeated. 
After  listening  a  few  minutes,  Jackson  said:  'Some  of 
my    Choctaws,    I    reckon.      That's    where    they    ought 
to  be  now.'     This   afterward  turned   out  to   be  right. 
Two  Indians  crawling  on  their  bellies,  where  they  could 
see  for  some  distance  under  the  fog,  caught  sight  of  the 
legs  of  two  British  soldiers  on  double-picket  and  fired 
at  them.     No  one  seemed  to  be  hurt,  as  the  pickets  ran 
away.     Finally,  just  as  Orderly  Phillips  got  back  with 
the  pilot-glass,  the  fog  began  to  lift  rapidly.     In  a  few 
minutes  the  head  of  the  British  column  could  be  dimly 
seen.     It  appeared  about  two  hundred  files  long — that 
would,  for  regiments  the  size  of  theirs,  be  a  formation 
four  ranks  deep.     They  were  about  six  hundred  to  six 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  away ;  too  long  a  range  for  our 
small-bore  rifles,  which,  as  you  know,  carried  round  bul- 
lets of  forty-five  or  even  sixty  to  the  pound  of  lead,  and 
were  not  effective  more  than  four  hundred  yards  at  the 
outside. 

"Generals  Jackson,  Carroll  and  Adair  and  Major  La- 
tour,  Mr.  Livingston  and  I  got  up  on  the  parapet.  In 
a  minute  or  two  the  enemy  began  to  move.    Two  rockets 


12        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

were  fired,  one  toward  us  and  one  toward  the  river. 
That  is  their  signal  for  advance,  I  beheve/  General  Jack- 
son said.  He  then  ordered  all  of  us  down  off  the  parapet, 
but  stayed  there  himself  and  kept  his  long  glass  to  his 
eye,  sweeping  the  enemy's  line  with  it  from  end  to  end. 
In  a  moment  he  ordered  Adair  and  Carroll  to  pass  word 
along  the  line  for  the  men  to  be  ready,  to  count  the 
enemy's  files  down  as  closely  as  they  could,  and  each 
look  after  his  own  file-man  in  their  ranks;  also  that 
they  should  not  fire  until  told,  and  then  to  aim  above 
the  cross-belt  plates. 

"The  men  were  tense,  but  very  cool.  A  buzz  of  low 
talk  ran  along  the  line  for  some  minutes.  The  enemy's 
front  line  was  now  within  five  hundred  yards,  and  the 
centre  of  their  formation  was  almost  exactly  opposite 
Carroll's  left  company  or  Adair's  right  one.  Then — 
boom!  went  our  first  gun.  As  well  as  I  can  remem- 
ber after  so  many  years,  it  was  fired  from  the  long 
brass  12-pounder  in  Battery  No.  6,  which  was  com- 
manded by  old  General  Fleanjeac,  a  French  veteran  who 
had  served  under  Napoleon  in  Italy  and  Egypt,  at  the 
Pyramids  and  Marengo,  but  who,  being  implicated  with 
Moreau,  was  exiled  by  Napoleon  and  came  to  Louisiana 
about  1802  or  1803. 

'Then  all  the  guns  opened.  The  British  batteries, 
formed  in  the  left  rear  of  their  storming  column  nearer 
the  river,  were  still  concealed  from  us  by  the  fog,  but 
they  replied,  directing  their  fire  by  the  sound  of  our 
gims.  It  was  a  grand  sight  to  see  their  flashes  light  up 
the  fog — turning  it  into  the  hues  of  the  rainbow. 

"Still  the  enemy  came  on,  but  no  sound  from  the 
rifle-line;  no  fire  but  that  of  artillery  on  either   side. 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  13 

Our  Batteries  Nos.  7  and  8  were  on  the  rifle-line.  No. 
7  had  an  old  Spanish  i8-pounder  and  a  6-pounder. 
No.  8  had  but  one  gun — a  6-pounder.  The  smoke 
from  these  hung  in  front  of  the  works  or  drifted 
slowly  toward  the  enemy  without  lifting  much  in  the 
damp  air.  Adair  noticed  this  and  said  it  was  worse 
than  the  fog;  that  the  smoke  would  spoil  the  aim  of  the 
riflemen  when  their  turn  came.  Carroll  agreed  with 
him.  Then  General  Jackson  ordered  these  two  batteries 
to  cease  firing,  whereupon  the  smoke  soon  lifted  and 
the  head  of  the  enemy's  column  appeared  not  more  than 
three  hundred  to  three  hundred  and  fifty  yards  off,  and 
coming  on  at  quickstep,  with  men  in  front  carrying  a 
few  scaling-ladders. 

^'Suddenly  one  rifle  cracked  a  little  to  the  left  of  where 
I  stood.  A  mounted  oflicer  on  the  right  and  a  little  in 
front  of  the  British  head  of  column  reeled  in  his  saddle 
and  fell  from  his  horse  headlong  to  the  ground.  What 
followed  in  an  instant  I  cannot  attempt  to  describe.  The 
British  had  kept  right  on,  apparently  not  minding  the 
artillery  fire  much,  though  it  was  rapid  and  well-directed. 
They  were  used  to  it.  But  now,  when  every  hunter's 
rifle,  from  the  right  of  Carroll's  line  to  the  edge  of  the 
swamp  where  Coffee  stood,  was  searching  for  their  vitals, 
the  British  soldiers  stopped!  That  was  something  new, 
something  they  were  not  used  to! 

*'They  couldn't  stand  it.  In  five  minutes  the  whole 
front  of  their  formation  was  shaken  as  if  by  an  earth- 
quake. Not  one  mounted  oflicer  could  be  seen.  Either 
rider  or  horse  or  both,  in  every  case,  was  down;  most 
of  them  dead  or  dying.  I  had  been  in  battle  where 
rifles  were  used  up  on  the  Northwest  frontier  under 


14       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Harrison.      But   even   so,    I   had   never   seen   anything 
Hke  this. 

"In  less  than  ten  minutes  the  first  Hne  of  the  enemy's 
column  had  disappeared,  exposing  the  second,  which  v^as 
about  a  hundred  yards  in  its  rear.  You  see,  their  for- 
mation was  columns  of  brigade  in  battalion  front,  and 
there  were  three  battalions — or  regiments — in  the  col- 
umn, each  one  formed  four  ranks  deep.  The  plain  was 
so  level  and  their  formation  in  line  so  dense  that  to  a 
certain  extent  the  front  or  leading  battalion  afforded 
some  cover  to  the  one  following,  and  so  on.  When  their 
leading  battalion,  which  we  now  know  to  have  been  the 
Forty-fourth  Regiment,  was  practically  destroyed,  the 
next  one,  which  was  the  Seventh  Regiment,  had  been 
already  a  good  deal  shaken  by  the  halt  and  carnage  in 
the  first  and  by  the  headlong'  flight  of  the  survivors 
around  or  through  its  ranks,  and  so  the  Seventh  Regi- 
ment broke  almost  as  soon  as  they  got  the  full  weight 
of  our  rifle-fire.  This  left  exposed  in  turn  their  third 
regiment  of  the  column,  which  was  the  Fourth  or  King's 
Own  Foot,  and  they,  too,  succumbed  after  a  very  brief 
experience.  Almost  as  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  this 
whole  column,  numbering,  I  should  say,  2,500  or  2,600 
men,*  was  literally  melted  down  by  our  rifle-fire.  To 
put  it  another  way,  this  column  had  been  to  all  intents 
destroyed  and  the  work  was  done  in  less  than  twenty 
minutes  from  the  first  rifle-shot.     No  such  execution  by 

*  The  exact  number  of  this  first  column  of  assault,  as  shown  in  Chapter 
xiv.,  Vol.  I.,  of  this  work  was  2,392.  But  at  the  time  of  our  interview  (1874) 
neither  General  Butler  nor  the  author  knew  the  British  official  figures. 
In  fact,  one  of  Jackson's  biographers  (Dr.  Frost,  writing  as  late  as  1845) 
makes  this  first  column  of  attack  "at  least  double"  the  entire  American 
force. 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  15 

small  arms  was  ever  done  before  and  I  don't  believe  it 
ever  will  be  done  again." 

In  offering  the  foregoing  description  by  General  Butler 
of  the  beginning  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  it  is 
proper  to  remark  that  the  original  form  was  a  news- 
paper '"interview,"  and  in  that  form  occurred  numerous 
questions  by  the  journalist.  But  for  the  present  historical 
use  these  questions  have  been  omitted  and  the  text  of 
the  venerable  soldier's  reminiscences  has  been  put  in  the 
shape  of  a  continuous  narrative. 

We  may  now  listen  to  Ogilvy,  who  saw  things  from 
the  ranks: 

".  .  .  After  the  other  officers  got  down  off  the 
breastwork,"  he  says,  "General  Jackson  stood  up  there 
alone,  surveying  the  enemy,  then  nearly  half  a  mile  off, 
through  a  long  spy-glass.  There  was  no  firing  anywhere 
on  our  line,  but  the  cannon  to  our  right  were  thundering 
right  along.  The  enemy's  cannon  began  to  fire,  too, 
through  the  fog  at  first,  and  their  flames  lit  it  up  in  a 
wonderful  way,  though  their  guns  themselves  could  not 
be  seen.  The  enemy's  infantry  did  not  fire  a  shot,  but 
came  on  with  fixed  bayonets. 

"During  the  few  minutes'  wait  for  them  to  get  close 
enough  a  comical  thing  occurred.  In  the  left  company 
of  Carroll's  Tennesseeans  was  a  grizzly  old  sergeant 
named  Williams — Sam  Williams.  He  was,  I  believe, 
the  oldest  man  in  the  Tennessee  line,  being  over  fifty, 
and  when  quite  a  boy  he  had  been  under  Shelby  at 
King's  Mountain,  thirty-five  years  before.  Old  Sam  was 
celebrated  all  through  West  Tennessee  as  a  singer  of 
darky  songs  and  often  enlivened  camp  with  them.     On 


1 6        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

this  occasion,  when  he  saw  General  Jackson's  tall,  slen- 
der form  standing  straight  as  a  ramrod  alone  on  top  of 
the  breastwork,  he  struck  up  a  camp-meeting  song  well 
known  in  those  days.     It  was  this : 

Dah  Gaberil  stannin'  by  de  gate ; 

Hy'm  a-watchin'  down  be-loh-h, 
Dah  jis  one  a'  minnit  fob  tub  wait, 

Fob  tub  beab  dat  Trumpet  blow-w ! 

Chorus. 

Den  ob.  Honey,  we's  a-cumin' — a-cumin'; 

Goody  Lawdy !  a-cumin'  fob  sbob ! 
We's  ebery  one  a-cumin',  a-cumin', 

When  we  beabs  dat  Trumpet  blow ! 

"Old  Sam  didn't  get  any  further.  Jackson,  turning 
half  around,  looked  at  him  benignantly.  But  Carroll, 
who  stood  near  him,  exclaimed:  'Shut  up,  Sam!  If  the 
redcoats  ever  once  hear  you  trying  to  sing  they'll  run — 
run  like  h — 1!  And  we  want  'em  to  come  on!'  Old 
Sam  was  silenced.  But  he  had  spoken — or  sung — the 
truth.  We  were,  *ebery  one,  a-comin',  when  we  heard 
the  trumpet  blow' !  In  a  minute  or  two.  General  Jackson 
got  down  off  the  breastwork. 

"  They're  near  enough  now,  gentlemen,'  he  said  to 
Carroll  and  Adair.  An  officer  in  gay  regimentals  and 
riding  a  splendid  gray  charger  was  near  the  centre  and 
a  little  in  front  of  the  British  line.  General  Adair  walked 
a  few  steps  to  where  a  man — the  ensign  of  his  right 
company — stood  with  his  thumb  on  the  lock  of  his  rifle, 
and  said  to  him : 

"  'Morg,  see  that  officer  on  the  gray  horse?' 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  17 

"  *Yes,  sir.' 

"  ^ Snuff  his  candle!' 

"The  officer  was  then  about  forty  rods  [220  yards] 
off.  Before  the  words  were  quite  out  of  Adair's  Hps, 
Morg's  rifle  cracked  Hke  a  stage-driver's  whip.  The  offi- 
cer leaned  forward,  grasped  the  mane  of  his  horse,  then 
toppled  sideways  and  fell  head-first  to  the  ground. 

"Then,  as  quickly  as  one  can  draw  a  breath,  the  order, 
'Fire!  Fire  ! !'  rang  along  the  whole  line,  and  the  breast- 
work, from  the  extreme  right  of  Carroll's  Tennesseeans 
to  the  swamp,  was  almost  one  solid  blaze.  We  were 
formed  four  deep,  in  open  order,  with  plenty  of  room 
to  move  to  and  fro.  As  fast  as  one  line  fired,  its  men 
would  step  back  to  the  rear  and  load.  By  the  time  the 
fourth  line  had  fired  the  first  one  would  be  ready  again, 
and  so  on.  There  were  nearly  two  thousand  rifles  in 
the  whole  line — 1,986,  I  believe,  was  the  exact  number 
who  could  see  the  enemy.  A  few  of  Coffee's  men  were 
deployed  out  into  the  swamp,  where  the  thick  cypress- 
trees  and  long  moss  completely  hid  the  enemy  from  their 
view. 

"However,  their  fire  was  not  needed.  The  enemy's 
column  did  not  last  much  more  than  fifteen  minutes.  By 
that  time  half  of  them  or  more  lay  dead  or  wounded 
on  the  ground,  no  officer  on  horseback  could  be  seen, 
and  such  as  had  escaped  death  or  wounds  were  running 
as  fast  as  their  legs  could  carry  them  to  the  rear — any- 
where to  get  out  of  reach  of  those  awful  rifles !  Some  of 
our  men  got  excited  and  talked  about  leaping  over  the 
breastwork  to  follow  them.  But  these  were  sternly  sup- 
pressed by  all  the  officers  and  by  the  more  sensible  and 
prudent  men  in  the  ranks  also.  To  have  gone  out  in  the 
Vol.  II.— 2 


1 8        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

open  field  then,  with  their  second  cohimn  and  all  their 
reserves  unhurt,  would  have  been  the  undoing  of 
us!     .     .     . 

"The  man  who  fired  first  was  Morgan  Ballard.  The 
British  officer  was  afterward  ascertained  to  be  Brigade- 
Major  Whitaker,  of  General  Gibbs's  Brigade." 

We  may  now  turn  briefly  to  the  British  side:  When 
the  council  of  war  at  Villere's  mansion  broke  up  about 
nine  o'clock,  Saturday  night,  the  7th  of  January,  the 
officers  who  had  taken  part  in  it  proceeded  at  once  to 
perfect  preparations  for  the  assault  at  daylight  which, 
after  much  debate,  had  been  unanimously  agreed  upon 
as  the  only  practicable  plan. 

All  the  necessary  orders  were  given  to  the  different 
commands  and  each  regiment'  was  in  position  when  the 
troops  lay  down  with  their  muskets  at  their  sides  to 
bivouac — many  of  them  for  the  last  time — on  the  damp 
ground.  At  four  a.m.  the  whole  force  was  roused. 
Captain  Cooke  describes  the  scene  at  that  hour: 

"...  I  do  not  remember  ever  looking  for  the 
first  signs  of  daybreak  with  more  intense  anxiety  than 
on  this  eventful  morning.  .  .  .  The  dew  lay  heavy 
upon  the  soft,  damp  ground,  and  the  soldiers,  throw- 
ing aside  their  useless  intrenching  tools,  were  laying 
hold  of  their  arms  to  be  up  and  ready  at  a  moment's 
warning.  How  can  I  convey  a  thought  of  the  intense 
anxiety  of  the  mind  when  a  solemn  and  sombre  silence  is 
broken  by  the  intonation  of  cannon  and  the  work  of 
death  begins?  .  .  .  The  morn  was  chilly,  all  was 
tranquil  as  the  grave  and  no  camp-fires  glimmered. 

"The  persistency  of  the  fog  materially  confused  the 


BATTLE   OF    NEW    ORLEANS  19 

preliminary  movements  of  the  first  column  of  attack. 
The  front  rank  of  the  Forty-fourth  Foot  was  to  carry 
scaling-ladders,  which  were  to  be  brought  to  them  by  a 
detachment  of  the  Second  West  India  (negro)  Regi- 
ment. But  for  more  than  an  hour  after  the  appointed 
time  no  colored  troops  bearing  ladders  appeared.  They 
had  started  from  head-quarters  at  the  right  moment,  but 
got  lost  in  the  fog  and  gloom.  At  last  a  part  of  them 
found  their  destination.  But  there  was  not  half  enough 
ladders.  Fascines  for  filling  up  the  American  ditch  had 
also  been  ordered  up,  but  none  were  forthcoming. 

*Two  rockets  in  quick  succession — one  thrown  toward 
the  American  lines  and  one  toward  the  river — were  to 
be  the  signal  for  advance.  These  rockets  were  thrown 
while  the  fog  was  yet  so  dense  that  only  the  one  sent 
toward  the  Americans  could  be  seen  from  General  Gibbs's 
position,  and  even  that  only  made  a  sputtering  trail  of 
bluish  light  through  the  mist.  Seeing,  of  course,  that  it 
was  a  mistake,  Gibbs  stood  fast.  It  was  perfectly  plain 
that  the  elements  and  not  general  orders  would  fix  the 
moment  of  actual  advance  that  morning." 

Mr.  Burroughs,  who,  though  not  a  combatant  officer 
and  having  no  command,  was  with  Gibbs's  head-quar- 
ters, says: 

"At  last  the  fog  rose  enough  to  make  the  enemy's 
lines  visible.  This  was  within  a  few  minutes  of  eight 
o'clock,  but  I  can't  recall  which  way — before  or  after. 
Without  waiting  any  longer  for  the  rest  of  the  ladders 
and  the  fascines,  General  Gibbs  ordered  the  advance. 
The  troops  moved  off  with  precision  at  route  step.  The 
enemy's  line  was  about  six  hundred  yards  distant  at  the 
start.     The  artillery  on  both  sides  had  been  playing  for 


20       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

some  minutes  when  the  infantry  began  to  move.  The 
American  guns  were  mostly  massed  on  the  right  of  their 
hne,  and  as  our  attack  was  directed  against  their  left, 
their  guns  had  but  little  effect  except  as  against  the  left 
flank  of  our  column,  and  that  was  not  serious.  The 
column  pressed  steadily  on. 

"At  three  hundred  yards  from  the  works  the  troops 
trailed  arms  and  broke  into  quickstep.  Brigade-Major 
Whitaker,  near  the  right  and  in  advance  of  the  column, 
was  attending  to  the  alignment.  A  single  rifle-shot  came 
from  the  American  line.  Major  Whitaker  fell  from  his 
horse,  shot  through  the  head.  And  at  a  distance  of 
nearly  three  hundred  yards!  As  if  to  warn  us  of  the 
fate  in  store!  He  happened  to  be  looking  to  the  right 
at  the  moment,  exposing  the  left  side  of  his  head  to  the 
terrible  marksman.  The  bullet  cut  about  half  its  diam- 
eter in  the  upper  rim  of  his  left  ear,  passed  through  his 
head,  out  at  the  right  temple,  and  went  on. 

"Instantly  the  whole  American  line,  from  the  swamp 
to  a  point  past  its  centre  toward  its  right,  was  fairly 
ablaze.  In  less  time  than  one  can  write  it,  the  Forty- 
fourth  Foot  was  literally  swept  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  In  the  wreck  and  confusion  that  ensued  within 
five  minutes  the  regiment  seeemed  to  vanish  from  sight 
— except  the  half  of  it  that  lay  stricken  on  the  ground! 
Every  mounted  officer  was  down  at  the  first  fire.  No 
such  execution  by  small  arms  had  ever  been  seen  or 
heard  of.  Then  the  destruction  smote  the  Fourth  Foot 
and  Seventh  Fusiliers.  General  Gibbs  strove  heroically 
to  hold  the  men  to  their  work  and  to  urge  them  forward. 
In  vain.  Never  before  had  British  veterans  quailed.  But 
it  would  be  silly  to  deny  that  they  did  so  now.     There 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  21 

was  something  in  that  leaden  torrent  that  no  men  on 
earth  could  face.  Before  a  quarter  of  an  hour  had 
elapsed  the  entire  column  was  broken  and  disorganized. 
In  twenty  minutes  from  the  first  shot  it  was  in  full  re- 
treat that  lacked  little  of  precipitate  flight. 

"General  Gibbs  made  herculean  efforts  to  stop  and 
rally  them.  In  the  course  of  half  an  hour  or  so  he 
succeeded  in  rallying  and  reforming  most  of  the  Fourth 
and  the  Seventh  who  were  not  disabled — perhaps  six 
hundred  or  so  of  both  regiments  together.  But  the  For- 
ty-fourth was  past  help.  Nothing  could  be  done  with 
them.  They  ran  until  completely  out  of  range  and  then 
huddled  in  small  squads  away  in  the  rear.  Even  then 
they  seemed  deaf  to  orders,  entreaties  and  threats  alike. 
I  had  heard  and  read  of  troops  being  'panic-stricken.' 
This  was  the  first  time  I  ever  witnessed  it.  And  they 
were  British  troops,  too;  veterans  of  many  a  desperate 
field!    .    .    . 

''Subsequent  examination  of  the  field  gave  a  clew  to 
the  cause  of  panic.  It  was  the  wonderful  accuracy  and 
murderous  effect  of  the  American  fire.  The  casualties 
by  cannon-fire  were  very  few.  Nearly  all  fell  to  the 
rifles.  Of  those  killed  an  appalling  proportion,  particu- 
larly at  the  point  nearest  the  lines,  were  shot  through 
the  head.  The  American  hunting-rifles  carried  small 
balls.  One  of  our  ounce  musket-balls  melted  up  and 
poured  in  their  moulds  would  make  three  of  them.  But 
through  the  head  or  viscera  they  were  as  fatal  as  any. 
Hitting  in  the  face  or  forehead,  they  made  little  purple 
spots,  from  which  blood  oozed  slowly,  but  life  went  out 
as  the  ball  went  in!  I  had  seen  many  battle-fields  in 
Spain  and  the  East,  fresh  with  carnage.     But  nowhere 


22         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

had  been  such  a  scene  as  the  spot  where  the  Forty-fourth 
was  butchered.  Yet  it  was  to  be  repeated  on  even  a 
larger  scale  in  a  few  minutes. 

''Hardly  had  the  wreck  of  the  first  column  cleared 
away  when  General  Pakenham,  in  person,  with  General 
Keane,  put  the  second  column  in  motion.  The  Ninety- 
third  Sutherland  Highlanders,  over  a  thousand  strong, 
led  this  column.  General  Pakenham,  as  he  rode  past 
their  flank,  took  off  his  hat  to  them.  Spurring  his  horse 
up  to  where  Colonel  Dale  stood,  he  exclaimed,  waving 
his  hat :  'Come  on  with  the  tartan !'  " 

"The  Subaltern,"  who  was  on  another  part  of  the 
field,  says — in  substance  and  without  literal  quotation — 
that  the  unprecedented  behavior  of  British  veterans  on 
this  occasion  could  be  accounted  for  only  by  the  sudden- 
ness of  the  disaster  and  the  Unexpected  rapidity  of  the 
destruction.  No  troops  could  be  expected  to  withstand 
a  fire  that  cut  down  half  of  a  full  battalion  in  fifteen 
minutes.  Nothing  in  the  previous  experience  of  British 
troops  anywhere  in  the  world,  he  says — except,  possibly, 
the  defeat  of  Braddock — was  calculated  to  prepare  men 
for  such  a  trial.  That  they  could  not  endure  it  was 
simply  human  nature.  Discipline  vanishes  in  the  face 
of  such  a  phenomenon.  The  Americans  themselves,  he 
declares,  would  not  have  stood  it  any  better  than  the 
British  did — if  as  well.  It  would  be  folly  for  any  gen- 
eral to  expect  his  men  to  stand  or  advance  unbroken 
until  the  last  one  should  fall.  British  troops  will,  notori- 
ously, stand  harder  punishment  and  brave  fiercer  slaugh- 
ter than  any  others ;  but  they,  too,  have  their  limits.  And 
this  rifle-fire  at  New  Orleans  was  the  absolute  limit  for 
human  flesh  and  blood.    To  shrink  from  it  did  not  imply 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  23 

want  of  valor,  because  to  face  it  was  madness.  To  see 
that  did  not  require  the  eye  of  a  general.  It  was  an 
inevitable  thing  that  the  humblest  man  in  the  ranks  could 
see  and  realize  in  all  its  horror. 

English  critics  have  questioned  the  accuracy  of  the 
statement  that  General  Pakenham  saluted  Colonel  Dale 
in  phrase  so  dramatic  as  ''Come  on  with  the  tartan!" 
They  say  that  Pakenham  was  the  pink  of  military  pro- 
priety, utterly  free  from  gush  or  sentimentality,  and  likely 
to  be  more  frigid  on  such  an  occasion  than  at  any  other 
time.  Lieutenant,  afterward  General,  Malcolm  M. 
Forbes,  a  subaltern  in  the  color  company,  heard  the  re- 
mark and  was  the  authority  upon  which  Burroughs 
repeated  it.  General  Pakenham  may  have  been  a  "frigid 
man,"  as  the  critics  say.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  the 
situation  which  confronted  him  there  was  calculated  to 
thaw  out  almost  anything. 

Colonel  Dale  was  one  of  the  bravest  of  men ;  a  veteran 
of  many  hard-fought  fields.  But  the  fate  of  the  first 
attack — so  singular  and  so  sudden — had  filled  him  with 
foreboding.  In  the  brief  interval  he  had  found  time 
hastily  to  dictate,  in  a  few  dozen  words,  to  the  adjutant 
of  his  regiment,  Lieutenant  Graves,  his  last  will  and 
testament.  He  made  no  mistake.  Within  twenty  min- 
utes from  the  dictation  a  rifle-bullet  made  Graves  an 
executor. 

The  great  column  moved  forward  proudly,  as  if  on 
parade,  its  bright  colors  flaunting  in  the  gentle  breeze, 
its  uniforms  and  gay  trappings  glittering  in  the  now 
clear  rays  of  the  morning  sun.  General  Pakenham,  sur- 
rounded by  his  full  staff,  leading  the  color  company, 
waving  his  hat  and  cheering.     For  a  few  minutes  the 


24         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

fatal  breastwork  was  silent,  except  the  batteries  near  the 
levee.  Those  on  the  front  of  the  rifle-line  w^ere  made 
to  cease  firing  as  before.  Suddenly  two  or  three  rifles 
cracked  near  the  junction  of  Carroll's  left  with  Adair's 
right,  from  the  line  of  Polk's  Tennessee  company,  form- 
ing Carroll's  extreme  left. 

General  Pakenham  reeled  in  his  saddle,  his  hat  dropped 
from  his  head  to  the  ground  and  two  members  of  his 
staff  helped  him  to  dismount.  A  half-ounce  bullet  had 
grazed  his  left  forearm  and  passed  into  his  abdomen 
just  below  the  short  ribs,  about  four  inches  to  the  left 
of  the  pit  of  the  stomach.  Another  had  passed  through 
the  opening  of  his  coat-collar  at  the  throat,  but  was 
deflected  by  the  leather  stock  he  wore. 

Instantly  following  these  shots  the  sharp,  angry 
crashing  of  many  rifles  rang 'along  the  American  line. 
The  effect  was  quick  and  deadly,  but  for  a  moment  the 
unshaken  Highlanders  breasted  it  and  came  on. 

The  British  veterans,  maddened  rather  than  dismayed 
by  their  gallant  commander's  fate,  pressed  forward  with 
steady  stride  and  ranks  aligned  as  if  it  w^ere  regimental 
review.  A  savage  crackling,  almost  like  the  snarling  of 
angry  beasts,  began  away  up  on  the  right  of  Carroll's 
Tennesseeans.  It  crept  along  down  the  line.  Quick,  red 
little  spouts  of  flame,  that  forked  at  the  end  like  serpents' 
tongues!  Sudden,  short  little  crashes  almost  merging 
one  with  another !  Lazy  little  wreaths  of  whitish  smoke 
in  pale  eddies  on  the  air!  Odors  of  sulphur  and  a  faint 
scent  of  something  like  blood!  Was  it  the  incense  of 
a  victory  or  was  it  the  fumes  of  hell? 

But  what  of  those  charging  veterans  out  in  front? 
Some  of  them  had  braved  the  deep-moated  castle  of 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  25 

Badajos;  they  had  swarmed  over  the  dark  walls  of  Ciu- 
dad  Rodrigo  in  mockery  of  French  bayonets  and  in  con- 
tempt of  French  cannon.  Hitherto  they  had  proved  able, 
as  the  Great  Duke  said  of  them,  to  "go  anywhere  and 
do  anything!"  They  were  the  best  soldiers  on  earth: 
resistless,  all-conquering,  invincible.  For  years  they  had 
never  marched  but  to  conquest;  had  never  fought  but  to 
vanquish.  They  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  any  word 
but  victory.     They  were  the  pride  of  England. 

But  what  was  this  they  had  met  at  last?  Why  was 
it  that  their  once  firm  ranks  now  reeled  and  staggered 
so?  What  manner  of  new,  strange  death  was  this? 
Was  it  in  the  air  they  breathed;  did  it  rise  like  a 
miasm  from  the  damp  ground  under  their  feet;  did  it 
descend  like  unseen  lightning-bolts  from  the  clear  sky 
above  ? 

Ah!  no  matter  how  or  where  or  whence.  It  was 
death  that  searched  out  the  vitals  of  strong,  brave  men 
— impalpable,  intangible,  almost  unfelt — it  was  so  swift 
and  so  sure! 

*This  is  not  battle,"  the  British  veterans  said  to  one 
another  as  they  died,  "it  is  butchery!  The  Destroying 
Angel  is  among  us,  in  our  ranks,  over  our  heads,  under 
our  feet,  all  around  us;  everywhere!" 

When  the  first  attack  came  on  the  Tennesseeans  and 
Kentuckians  had  maintained  order,  keeping  their  ranks 
and  standing  on  the  ground  behind  their  breastwork 
which,  in  the  average  of  its  height,  sheltered  them  to 
the  waist.  But  now,  facing  and  resisting  the  second 
attack,  they  began  to  show  some  signs  of  disorder — 

that  fierce  disorder  which  comes  from  the  mastery  of 

■   **• 


,/ 


26         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

exultant  valor  over  calm  prudence.  All  along  the  line 
the  riflemen  began  to  mount  the  breastwork,  singly  or 
in  squads,  exposing  themselves  full  length  and  loading 
and  firing  on  top  of  the  parapet  instead  of  from  behind 
it.  It  seemed  as  if  now,  when  their  blood  was  up,  they 
disdained  cover  and  wanted  to  give  their  brave  assail- 
ants a  better  chance  at  them. 

This  made  Andrew  Jackson  frown.  He  said  to  his 
aides :  *Tass  the  word  along  the  line  to  all  company 
officers  to  make  their  men  observe  order  and  keep  the 
ranks  behind  the  works."  To  the  men  within  sound  of 
his  voice  he  gave  the  order  in  person. 

But  it  was  easier  said  than  done.  The  pioneer  blood 
of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  was  boiling,  and  the  fumes 
of  battle  were  etherizing  their  caution.  ''Personal  safe- 
ty" were  words  without  meaning.  The  one  word  they 
knew  then  was  ''Dare!" 

At  this  moment  Jackson  was  on  that  part  of  the  line 
where  Carroll's  left  company  joined  Adair's  right,  and 
Carroll  was  with  him. 

"The  only  thing  I  fear  now,  William,"  he  said,  "is 
that  when  the  enemy  break,  as  they  must  do  in  a  few 
seconds,  some  of  these  desperate  youngsters  of  mine  will 
want  to  go  over  the  works  and  get  at  them!" 

The  Tennessee  company,  on  whose  line — or  in  whose 
ranks — Jackson  stood,  was  Captain  Charles  Polk's.  Just 
then  the  British  began  to  give  way  on  their  left  and  to 
waver  perceptibly  all  along  their  front.  From  the  breast- 
work the  Americans  could  see  the  few  surviving  British 
officers  frantically  trying  to  make  their  men  advance, 
sometimes  striking  them  with  the  flat  of  their  swords. 
But  their  line  reeled  more  and  more  until,  finally,  the 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  27 

color   company   of    the   Highlanders    being   annihilated 
down  to  three  men,  the  centre  broke  in  confusion. 

Young  Robert  Polk,  ensign  of  his  uncle's  company, 
a  curly-headed  youth  of  nineteen  or  twenty,  sprang  upon 
the  breastwork  and  the  bright  blade  of  his  Indian  toma- 
hawk glittered  above  his  bare  head  as  he  yelled :  ''Come 
on,  boys!     Follow  me!     Let's  charge  'em!     Let's  get 

among  'em!" 

''Down,  sir,  down!"  roared  Jackson  in  the  voice  of 
a  mad  bull.     ''Back  to  your  post!" 

Young  Robert  Polk  jumped  down  off  the  parapet ! 
Jackson  fumbled  with  his  hands  about  his  waist.  As 
if  surprised,  he  found  he  had  on  no  belt  or  side-arms  of 
any  kind— only  the  cane  he  held  in  one  hand.  In  a  half- 
helpless  sort  of  way,  he  turned  to  his  aide-de-camp: 
"Kindly  lend  me  your  pistols  for  a  moment,  Captam." 

Captain  Butler  took  two  heavy  rifled  pistols  from  his 
belt  and  handed  them  to  his  chief. 

"Now,"  said  Jackson  in  a  voice  that  no  one  ever  for- 
got who  heard  it,  and  with  a  wicked  glint  in  his  great 
gray  eyes,  "I'll  shoot  the  first  man  who  dares  go  over 
the  works!     We  must  have  order  here!" 
There  was  order. 

The  Highlanders,  though  staggered  by  the  volley 
which  immediately  followed  the  fall  of  General  Paken- 
ham,  and  which  killed  or  wounded  all  five  of  the  staff 
oflicers  who  were  with  him,  still  pressed  on  for  a  minute 
or  so.  But  when  the  second  volley  from  the  rifle-line 
smote  their  bosoms,  they  halted  and  stood  stock-still. 
No  troops  could  advance  in  the  face  of  such  a  storm  of 
lead— and  Scottish  Highlanders  had  not  yet  learned  how 
to  run!     They  were  at  their  wits'  ends.     No  sleet  like 


28  HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

this  had  ever  driven  in  their  faces — not  even  the  winter 
blasts  of  their  native  moors.  That  was  only  the  driving 
gusts  of  frozen  snow.  But  this  pitiless  sleet  from  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee  was  cold  lead,  and  it  killed  or  crip- 
pled every  one  in  its  awful  way! 

However,  the  halting,  staggering  and  breaking  of  the 
Highlanders,  when  two-thirds  of  their  number  had  been 
laid  low,  did  not  put  an  end  to  the  second  attack.  The 
gallant  Gibbs  was  just  behind  them  with  the  Twenty- 
first  Royal  Scots  Fusiliers  and  the  Forty-third  Monmouth 
Light  Infantry.  Gibbs  had  brought  up  what  he  could 
rally  of  the  remnant  from  the  first  attack  to  support  the 
second.  Keane  had  been  wounded  at  the  first  fire  and 
Gibbs  was  now  second  in  command. 

Seeing  the  Highlanders  stop  and  shiver  as  the  leaden 
sleet  of  that  "backwoods  rabble"  drove  into  their  faces, 
Gibbs  halted  the  Fusiliers  and  the  Forty-third  and  sent 
aides  at  breakneck  speed,  ordering  the  w4ngs  of  the 
Twenty-seventh  and  Eighty-ninth  Dublin  to  close  in  left 
and  right  on  the  column.  Just  then  one  of  Pakenham's 
staff — Major  Shaw^ — reached  him,  bareheaded  and 
bloody. 

"They  have  killed  General  Pakenham,  sir,"  said  Shaw, 
"and  you  are  now  in  command." 

"What's  the  matter  with  the  'Sawnies'?  Why  don't 
they  go  ahead?"  asked  Gibbs. 

"I  don't  know,  sir;  but  the  Highlanders  cannot  be 
urged  to  go  further.  They  are  nearly  destroyed  al- 
ready!" 

"Go  tell  them,  then,  to  get  out  of  my  way  or  I  will 
run  over  them !  I'll  wipe  out  that  nest  of  Yankee  hornets 
with  the  Fusiliers  and  the  Forty-third!" 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  29 

But  the  Highlanders  did  not  "get  out  of  the  way," 
and  they  were  in  such  confusion  that  it  was  impossible 
to  charge  through  their  disordered  mass. 

Gibbs  then  took  the  desperate  resolve  to  oblique  his 
column  around  their  right  flank.  With  "left  shoulders 
forward"  the  devoted  Fusiliers  and  Monmouthshires 
swept  round  the  flank  of  the  surging  Highlanders  at 
the  double — Gibbs  leading  them  in  person,  his  big  black 
stallion  curvetting  splendidly.  It  was  but  a  fleeting  pic- 
ture. The  moment  he  appeared  at  the  head  of  his  ob- 
liquing column,  horse  and  rider  fell  together;  the  horse 
shot  in  the  forehead  and  instantly  killed,  Gibbs  with 
four  bullets  in  him — one  just  to  the  right  of  the  right 
nostril,  one  nearly  in  the  middle  of  his  throat,  one  in 
the  breast  about  three  inches  above  the  pit  of  the  stom- 
ach, and  one  in  the  left  groin — any  one  of  the  four 
necessarily  fatal! 

It  was  the  "backwoods  rabble!" 

But,  with  all  his  bravery  and  all  his  fierce  daring, 
Gibbs  might  have  died  more  like  a  soldier  than  he  did. 
They  bore  him  to  the  rear,  cursing  his  fate,  cursing  his 
dying  commander,  and  he  died  that  night  with  male- 
dictions on  his  lips. 

Almost  at  the  moment  when  Gibbs  fell.  General  Lam- 
bert, who  had  arrived  with  the  reserves,  took  the  head 
of  column  and  tried  to  lead  it  on.  All  these  things  hap- 
pened in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  think  about  them. 
The  dozen  shots  sent  at  Gibbs  and  his  staff  were  in- 
stantly followed  by  a  volley  from  the  whole  rifle-line  with- 
in range.  It  fairly  withered  the  Seventh  Fusiliers,  who 
broke  beyond  rallying,  and  those  who  could  run  fled  in 
all  directions.    This  exposed  the  front  of  the  Forty-third, 


30  HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

who  in  their  turn  got  another  rifle-blast  that  shrivelled 
up  their  ranks  as  flame  shrivels  dry  leaves.  They  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  the  Fusiliers,  Even  the  reserves 
that  Lambert  brought  up  came  in  for  a  share  of  the 
"glory,"  though  at  such  long  range  that  their  sacrifices 
were  slight  in  comparison.  Their  commander  was 
severely  wounded,  though  not  wholly  disabled. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  advance  of  the  first 
column  of  main  attack,  a  detachment  of  the  Ninety-fifth 
Rifles  attempted  to  penetrate  the  swamp  with -a  view  of 
flanking  Coffee's  position  on  the  left — or,  at  least,  to 
threaten  it.  This  movement  soon  developed  Jugeat's 
Choctaws,  who  had  been  deployed  some  distance  in  ad- 
vance of  the  lines  as  outposts  or  skirmishers.  A  lively 
skirmish  ensued  in  the  edge  of  the  cypress  timber,  and 
Coffee  sent  Donelson's  company  to  re-enforce  Jugeat. 
The  Tennesseeans  and  Indians  drove  the  British  Rifles 
back  on  the  plain  about  the  time  the  second  main  attack 
collapsed.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  of  the  whole  loss 
in  Jackson's  force  on  the  left  bank,  the  Choctaws  suf- 
fered more  than  one-third — losing  eight  men  out  of  the 
total  twenty-one. 

While  all  these  events  were  taking  place  in  the  centre 
and  on  the  right  of  the  British  line.  Colonel  Rennie, 
with  a  column  made  up  of  marines  and  detachments 
from  the  Twenty-seventh  and  Eighty-ninth  Regiments, 
something  over  900  strong,  stole  up  under  cover  of  the 
levee  and  the  smoke  from  Jackson's  batteries  near  the 
river.  They  charged  the  redoubt  and  the  line  immedi- 
ately to  our  left  of  it,  held  by  the  Seventh  Regulars,  a 
small  battalion  of  Louisiana  militia,  all  armed  with 
smooth-bore  muskets,  together  with  Beale's  remnant  of 


BATTLE    OF    NEW    ORLEANS  31 

thirty-two  New  Orleans  City  Riflemen.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  on  the  front  defended  by  the  riflemen  of  Ten- 
nessee and  Kentucky — the  ''backwoods  rabble" — though 
twice  assailed  by  the  main  force  of  the  enemy  in  heavy 
column,  no  British  soldier  ever  got  nearer  to  the  breast- 
work than  eighteen  rods,  by  actual  measurement.  And 
every  one  who  got  that  near  stayed  there.  But  Rennie 
and  his  flanking  column  of  nine  hundred-odd,  charging 
the  front  held  by  the  regulars  and  the  Louisiana  militia, 
got  up  into  the  ditch ;  and  Rennie  himself  with  two  or 
three  other  officers  and  a  few  marines,  got  clear  over  the 
breastwork.  But  they  died  there.  That  w^as  the  dif- 
ference between  smooth-bore  muskets  in  the  hands  of 
either  regulars  or  militia  and  the  rifles  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee  sighted  by  the  pioneer  veterans  of  Tippe- 
canoe, the  Thames  and  the  Horseshoe  Bend.  And  even 
Rennie's  attack,  delivered  far  to  the  right  of  the  rifle- 
line  as  it  was,  did  not  escape  the  biting  marksmanship 
of  Carroll's  Tennesseeans.  As  soon  as  Carroll  saw 
Rennie's  column  stealing  along  the  levee,  he  ordered 
his  two  companies  on  the  right — Claiborne's  and  Thomas 
Polk's — to  oblique  at  the  double  to  the  right  and  fire 
into  the  exposed  flank  of  the  force,  which,  under  com- 
mand of  Brigade-Major  King,  was  some  distance  to 
the  right  of  Rennie's  main  column.  The  Tennesseeans 
numbered  about  140  or  150.  Most  of  them  got  up  on 
top  of  the  breastwork.  When  their  rifle-barrels  came 
to  the  level  and  the  little  jets  of  flame  darted  from  their 
miuzzles,  the  ''right  flank  of  Rennie's  column  seemed 
to  sink  into  the  earth" — as  an  eye-witness  (Captain 
Wright)  said  in  his  oration  long  afterward. 


CHAPTER    II 

AFTER   THE    GREAT    VICTORY 

The  battle  of  New  Orleans  was  over.  What  was 
left  of  the  proud  army  that  so  exultantly  and  so  con- 
fidently surged  at  sunrise  up  against  that  "low  log 
breastwork,  manned  by  a  backwoods  rabble,"  sadly  and 
sullenly  retreated  out  of  range  and  almost  out  of  sight. 
But  what  mementoes  of  ambition's  folly  had  they  left 
behind ! 

There  were  places  on  that  field  where  the  formation 
of  British  battalions  could  be  traced  by  the  dead  as  they 
lay  in  ranks !  Of  the  color  company  of  the  Forty- fourth 
Essex  Regiment,  97  strong  at  the  start,  six  were  alive 
and  unhurt  at  the  finish.  The  color  company  of  the 
Ninety-third  Sutherland  Highlanders  went  into  action 
103  strong  and  came  out  with  three  "whole  skins"! 

Viewing  the  British  army  by  regiments,  the  Forty- 
fourth  went  into  action  816  strong.  It  was  within  rifle- 
range  eighteen  or  twenty  minutes.  When  Lieutenant 
Ormsby — the  sixteenth  officer  in  lineal  rank — rallied  its 
remnant  a  mile  in  the  rear,  the  Forty-fourth  lined  up 
134  muskets,  and  Ormsby  was  one  of  five  commissioned 
officers  left  out  of  thirty-one. 

The  Sutherland  Highlanders  charged  with  1,008  men 
in  line.  They  were  under  fire  less  than  thirty  minutes. 
Lieutenant  Forbes,  the  seventeenth  officer  in  lineal  rank, 
rallied  132  of  them  an  hour  later,  in  the  rear. 

32 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  ;^;^ 

The  Monmouth  Light  Infantry  tried  to  follow  Gibbs 
around  the  right  flank  of  the  Highlanders  with  862 
men.     That  night  217  answered  roll-call. 

The  Seventh  Fusiliers,  going  in  with  780,  got  out  with 
266  fit  for  duty. 

The  Twenty-first  Fusiliers,  its  front  covered  by  the 
Ninety-third  in  the  second  attack  and  taking  advantage 
of  the  earliest  chance  to  retreat,  managed  to  save  395 
out  of  790. 

The  Fourth  King's  Own,  enjoying  a  similar  advan- 
tage of  position  and  opportunity,  escaped  with  the  com- 
paratively trifling  loss  of  397  out  of  796. 

This  would  indicate  losses  aggregating  3,717.  But 
some  of  these  were  stragglers  or  unwounded  prisoners. 
The  actual  casualties  by  gunshot  were  something  over 
3,000. 

Soon  after  the  battle  ceased,  a  truce  to  bury  the  dead 
and  care  for  the  wounded  was  agreed  upon  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  British  commander.  Even  in  this  sad  mo- 
ment, cruel  with  the  anguish  of  defeat  and  excruciating 
with  the  agony  of  disaster,  Lambert  did  not  forget  his 
surly  contempt  for  the  "militia  general"  who  had  con- 
quered him.  His  note  requesting  the  truce  was  signed 
simply  "Lambert."  Jackson  sent  it  back  to  him  with 
a  polite  message  to  the  efifect  that  he  could  not  entertain 
such  a  proposal  unless  its  signature  afforded  better  evi- 
dence of  authority  than  the  one  before  him.  Lambert 
accepted  the  rebuke  and  sent  another  note  signed  "John 
Lambert,  Major-General  in  Command."  The  truce 
being  agreed  upon,  a  "dead-line"  was  drawn  300  yards 
from  the  breastwork,  inside  of  which  no  British  soldier 

was  allowed  to  come.     Our  soldiers  carried  the  British 
Vol.  II.— 3 


34        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

dead  to  the  line  and  delivered  them  to  their  comrades 
for  burial.  The  British  wounded  were  taken  into  our 
lines  and  thence  to  the  city,  wdiere  public  buildings, 
churches  and  many  private  residences  were  turned  into 
hospitals  for  them.  The  wounded  British  soldiers  were 
uniformly  grateful  to  the  men  who  had  conquered  them 
and  now  did  their  best  to  help  them.  But  many  of  the 
officers,  particularly  the  younger  ones,  were  sullen  to 
the  point  of  boorishness.  One  incident  may  illustrate: 
The  accomplished  Lieutenant  William  Wickliffe,  of  Ken- 
tucky, with  two  comrades  of  less  culture  and  refinement 
— but  of  no  less  manly  instinct  and  native  chivalry — was 
helping  off  the  field  Lieutenant  Brooke — son  of  a  lord 
and  nephew  of  a  duke — badly  wounded.  Wickliffe  and 
his  comrades  were  clad  in  dirty  buckskin  hunting- jackets, 
their  hair  was  long  and  'their  faces  and  hands  were 
begrimed  with  burnt  powder. 

*'Are  there  no  regular  officers  in  your  army?  I 
would  like  to  be  attended  by  gentlemen!"  said  the  sprig 
of  English  aristocracy. 

"Let's  leave  the  conceited to  wallow 

in  his  own  blood!"  exclaimed  one  of  Wickliffe's  com- 
rades. 

''No,"  said  Wickliffe;  "don't  mind  his  impudent 
tongue,  Jim.  His  wound  makes  a  gentleman  of  him — 
nothing  else  could!" 

The  task  of  removing  the  British  dead  to  the  truce- 
line  was  a  ghastly  one.  Most  remarkable  of  all  was 
the  corpse  of  a  tall  Highlander,  that  lay  at  the  point 
where  the  Ninety-third  broke.  He  was  a  color-sergeant 
and  had  carried  the  King's  color  of  the  regiment.     Two 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  35 

bullets  had  gone  through  his  head.  One  struck  him  just 
over  the  left  eye  and  passed  out  back  of  the  right  ear. 
The  other  hit  him  between  the  right  nostril  and  eye 
and  came  out  through  the  left  ear.  As  either  wound 
must  have  been  instantaneously  fatal,  it  was  clear  that 
the  two  bullets  struck  him  together ;  though,  taking  the 
•angle  at  which  they  crossed  in  his  brain  in  connection 
with  his  distance  from  our  rifle-line — about  twenty-five 
i-ods — it  was  apparent  that  the  two  deadly  marksmen 
who  simultaneously  "drew  their  beads"  on  his  head  must 
have  been  at  least  thirty-five  rods  apart  in  our  line. 

''A  little  lead  wasted  there!"  was  the  grim  comment 
of  one  of  the  Tennesseeans  who  helped  carry  the  corpse 
to  the  truce-line. 

More  than  three  hundred  who  had  lain  down  for 
safety  surrendered,  unwounded,  after  the  battle. 

The  wounded  who  were  picked  up  and  taken  to  the 
city  numbered  more  than  1,200,  and  for  weeks  New  Or- 
leans was  pretty  much  one  great  hospital.  Many  of  the 
wounded  soldiers  —  particularly  the  Irishmen  among 
them — contrived  to  stay  in  this  country  when  the  pris- 
oners were  released  after  the  news  of  peace  came. 

While  these  decisive  events  were  so  rapidly  occurring 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  a  combat  of  wholly  different 
character  and  result  was  w^aged  on  the  right  bank.  Colo- 
nel Thornton  had  his  picked  column  of  900  men — light 
infantry  and  marines — ready  to  cross  the  river  by  the 
time  the  council  of  war,  the  evening  of  January  7th, 
adjourned.  This  was  about  nine  o'clock.  But,  through 
delay  in  getting  the  boats  to  the  place  of  embarkation, 
it  was  midnight  before  the  first  detachment  could  start. 


26        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

There  were  only  half  enough  boats,  and  therefore  two 
trips  had  to  be  made.  The  sailors  who  rowed  the  boats 
did  not  allow  enough  for  the  current  and  the  result  was 
that  they  landed  on  the  right  bank  over  a  mile  below 
the  designated  point.  The  first  detachment  landed  about 
four  o'clock,  and  it  was  nearly  seven  when  the  rest  of 
the  force  joined  them. 

Thornton  formed  his  force  with  the  Eighty-fifth  Light 
Infantry  on  his  left,  about  400  strong,  the  Royal  Marines 
— about  300 — in  the  centre  and  the  sailors — 250 — on  his 
right,  next  the  river  bank.  On  the  river  and  keeping 
abreast  of  the  land  force  were  three  large  boats,  or  sail- 
ing launches,  under  Captain  Roberts  of  the  navy,  each 
armed  with  one  small  carronade  or  boat-gun  in  the  bow. 

The  American  force  consisted  of  less  than  400  Ken- 
tucky militia,  under  Colonel*  Davis,  and  about  300  Louis- 
iana militia,  under  Major  Amand.  A  battery  of  one 
i2-pounder  and  two  6-pounders  had  been  mounted  in 
the  old  brick-kiln  which  Major  Latour  had  converted 
into  a  sort  of  redoubt  two  days  before,  and  these  guns 
were  manned  by  Philibert's  and  Nixon's  companies  of 
the  Louisiana  militia. 

About  three  hundred  yards  in  the  rear  of  these  lines 
was  Commodore  Patterson's  battery  of  i8-pounders,  but 
these  were  mounted  to  fire  across  the  river.  The  commo- 
dore, however,  anticipating  an  attack  by  land,  got  two  12- 
pounders  out  of  the  Louisiana  during  the  7th  and  mount- 
ed them  in  a  re-entrant  work  or  traverse,  to  fire  down 
the  road.  During  the  night  of  the  7th,  General  David 
Morgan,  in  command  on  the  east  bank,  had  posted  180 
Kentucky  and  150  Louisiana  militia,  under  Colonel  Davis 
and  Major  Tessier,  on  a  line  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  37 

front  of  his  intrenched  position,  at  the  point  where  the 
plain  between  river  and  swamp  is  narrowest.  This  Hne, 
except   a    feeble   abatis   of   cypress   branches,    was   not 

fortified. 

Thornton  attacked  it  vigorously  and  the  militia  gave 
way,  retreating  rapidly  and  in  disorder  upon  the  fortified 
lines.  The  British,  in  close  pursuit,  soon  came  under 
the  guns  of  the  "brick-kiln  battery"  and  Morgan's  main 
force  in  the  slight  breastwork.  The  total  of  this  force 
was  not  more  than  350.  Morgan  tried  to  rally  the  fugi- 
tives at  his  lines,  without  much  success.  Thornton  was 
soon  upon  him  with  a  flanking  movement  on  the  right 
which  doubled  back  his  line  toward  the  river,  capturing 
the  brick-kiln  battery  and  compelling  the  rest  of  the 
militia  to  join  the  fugitives  from  the  first  line. 

Commodore  Patterson's  two  12-pounders  now  came 
into  action.  They  were  well  served  by  the  Louisiana's 
sailors  and,  as  they  partly  enfiladed  the  plain,  Thornton's 
advance  was  for  a  few  moments  checked.  But  his  ex- 
treme left  — the  Eighty-fifth  — kept  reaching  around 
toward  the  rear  of  the  commodore's  battery,  and  he 
was  soon  forced  out  of  it,  after  spiking  his  guns  and 
throwing  his  powder  into  the  river. 

Thornton  now  paused  for  a  few  minutes  to  reform  his 
line,  and  then  resumed  his  advance.  Morgan  and  Davis 
in  the  meantime  had  partially  rallied  their  militia,  and 
the  Louisianians  fired  severe  straggling  volleys  with 
some  effect.  Adjutant  Stephens,  of  Davis's  regiment, 
with  about  120  Kentuckians  also  made  a  front  against 
the  British  advance.  The  re-enforcements  sent  over  from 
the  city  by  Jackson,  under  the  French  veteran  Humbert, 
now  began  to  arrive  on  the  field,  and  Morgan,  with 


38         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

about  600  men,  took  post  behind  the  Canal  Boisgeveau, 
which  was  really  a  more  defensible  position  than  his 
intrenched  line  had  been,  except  that  he  had  no  artillery 
left. 

After  a  quick  reconnaissance  of  this  line,  Thornton 
was  preparing  to  attack  it  when  Captain  Dickson,  of  the 
royal  artillery,  reached  him  from  the  left  bank  with 
tidings  of  the  awful  defeat  and  butchery  the  main  army 
had  suffered,  and  orders  from  General  Lambert  to  ex- 
tricate himself  and  recross  the  river  as  best  he  might. 
Thornton,  though  confident  of  his  ability  to  go  ahead 
as  against  the  force  in  his  front,  knew  that  Jackson 
would  be  now  free  to  re-enforce  Morgan  from  the  left 
bank  to  any  required  extent,  and  that  he  could  hope  for 
no  aid  from  the  routed  and  slaughtered  regiments  of 
the  main  army.  He  therefore  withdrew  from  his  ad- 
vanced position  without  serious  trouble  and  fell  back  to 
his  landing-place,  which  he  held  the  rest  of  the  day. 
Under  cover  of  night  he  re-embarked  his  troops  and 
rejoined  the  main  army  on  the  left  bank.  The  Amer- 
icans did  not  molest  him,  but  during  the  night  reoccupied 
their  line  of  works,  and  Commodore  Patterson  had  his 
battery  in  working  order  again  early  in  the  morning  of 
the  9th. 

This  affair  has  been  called  "disgraceful"  by  most 
American  writers.  General  Jackson,  in  his  official  re- 
port, severely  censures  the  behavior  of  the  militia — par- 
ticularly the  Kentuckians  under  Colonel  Davis.  But, 
upon  dispassionate  examination  of  all  the  facts,  it  is 
difficult  to  see  that  anything  else  could  reasonably  have 
been  expected.  The  militia,  Louisianians  and  Kentuck- 
ians  alike,   were  armed   with   nothing   better   than   old 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY 


39 


Spanish  escopetas  or  fowling-pieces.  They  were  also 
quite  inferior  in  numbers.  The  ''works"  for  their  pro- 
tection were  of  the  flimsiest  character  and,  being  incom- 
plete on  the  right — or  next  the  swamp — were  easily 
flanked. 

The  fact  that  the  militia,  poorly  armed  and  unsteady 
as  they  w^ere,  inflicted  a  loss  of  io8  killed  and  wounded 
upon  the  British  force,  including  Colonel  Thornton  him- 
self severely  wounded,  indicates  that  they  must  have 
tried  at  least  to  hold  their  ground.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  fact  that  they  themselves  lost  only  five  killed, 
fourteen  wounded  and  nineteen  "missing,"  suggests  that 
they  did  not  take  any  extraordinary  risks.  The  British 
Government  apparently  set  a  high  value  on  Thornton's 
"victory."  He  was  the  only  officer  in  their  army  to  be 
promoted  "for  gallant  and  successful  services  at  New 
Orleans,  January  8,  1815";  and  the  only  "trophy"  of 
that  battle  ever  displayed  in  England  was  the  State  flag 
of  the  First  Louisiana  Militia,  which  for  many  years 
adorned  a  nook  in  the  British  Admiralty  head-quarters 
at  Whitehall.  It  was  taken,  in  Thornton's  attack,  by  the 
detachment  of  Royal  Marines  under  Major  Adayre. 
Rather  a  lonesome  memento  for  such  an  important  cam- 
paign! 

The  most  singular  thing,  historically,  about  the  battle 
of  New  Orleans  is  the  confusion  that  seems  to  exist  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  have  tried  to  describe  it,  on 
three  points :  First,  the  numbers  effective  on  each  side ; 
second,  the  relative  execution  done  by  the  different  arms 
of  service;  and,  third,  the  actual  casualties  of  the  British 
army. 


40         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

On  no  one  of  these  three  points  do  any  two  historians 
agree.  But  the  one  point  on  which  they  most  nearly 
approach  agreement  is  that  nearly  all  the  execution  was 
done  by  Jackson's  artillery — which,  excepting  the  two 
small  regular  batteries  present,  neither  of  which  had 
more  than  forty  trained  men,  was  a  nondescript  lot  of 
old  guns  of  all  calibres,  mainly  worked  by  men  who  had 
never  seen  a  cannon  in  action  before.  However,  this 
fact  does  not  prevent  all  the  historians — from  Frost  to 
Walker  and  Parton — from  ''mowing  the  British  ranks 
down  with  grape-shot"  and  all  that  kind  of  thing.  True, 
most  of  the  historians  admit  that  there  were  some  rifle- 
men present,  under  Coffee,  Carroll  and  Adair,  but  these 
are  classed  as  "militia,"  and  credited  with  little  else  than 
firing  their  rifles  through  the  smoke  of  the  all-destroying 
artillery.  It  is,  of  course,*  useless  to  discuss  such  a 
question  with  such  writers.  The  trouble  is  that  most 
men  who  try  to  describe  battles  in  historical  writing 
never  saw  one  themselves,  do  not  know^  and  cannot  real- 
ize W'hat  a  battle  is,  and  might  not  recognize  one  if  they 
saw  it — unless  they  happened  to  get  hit !  The  relative 
forces  engaged  have  already  been  set  forth  in  these  pages  : 
The  British  strength  from  reports  on  file  in  the  Adju- 
tant-General's ofiice  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  American 
force  from  General  Eaton's  memorandum  compiled  from 
reports  of  company  commanders,  the  9th  of  January. 

As  for  the  losses,  it  is  not  disputed  that  Jackson's 
force  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river  lost  eight  killed  and 
thirteen  wounded.  But,  as  already  remarked,  no  two 
American  historians  agree  as  to  the  losses  of  the  British 
or  as  to  the  arm  of  service  that  chiefly  caused  such 
casualties.     Undoubtedly  the  most  authentic  solution  is 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  41 

to  be  found  in  the  "consolidated  return"  of  the  Medical 
Director  of  the  British  army.  This  return,  made  some 
time  after  the  battle — in  fact,  after  the  peace — when  all 
prisoners  had  been  released  and  all  who  could  survive 
their  wounds  had  recovered  or  been  discharged  for  per- 
manent disability,  classifies  the  casualties  under  four 
heads :  First,  Killed  outright ;  second.  Died  of  Wounds ; 
third,  Wounded  and  permanently  disabled:  and.  fourth, 
Wounded  and  temporarily  disabled.  Without  going  into 
details,  the  summary  of  the  report  is  as  follows : 

Killed  on   the   field 381 

Died   of  wounds 477 

858 

Wounded  and  permanently  disabled  (dis- 
charged)        1.251 

Wounded  and  temporarily  disabled    (re- 
turned to  duty) I..-2I7 

2,468 

Total  3,326 

Now,  in  order  to  understand  the  full  meaning  of  this 
classification,  it  is  necessary  to  know  what  the  British 
system  was  in  those  days.  Soldiers  were  enlisted  then 
in  the  British  army  for  ''long  service/*  That  meant  for 
life  or  until  numerical  reduction  of  the  strength,  when 
the  army  was  to  be  placed  o^  a  ''peace  footing."  Under 
that  system  "permanently  disabled"  meant  loss  of  limb 
or  other  injury  absolutely  incapacitating  the  soldier  for 
further  service  of  any  kind.  "Temporarily  disabled" 
meant  wounds  that  might  heal :  but  whether  the  healing 
took  a  week  or  a  year  made  no  difference.     ^loreover. 


42         HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

"slight  wounds"  found  no  place  in  the  medical  and  sur- 
gical reports  of  the  British  army  of  those  days. 

With  regard  to  the  causes  of  death  and  wounds  at 
New  Orleans,  the  British  Medical  Director  says  that: 
"Of  the  total  number  (3,326),  about  3,000  were  struck 
by  the  small  bullets  the  American  sharpshooters  used  in 
their  rifles;  the  rest  (say  326)  by  the  missiles  of  artil- 
lery or  by  the  ounce  balls  used  in  regulation  muskets." 

These  may  be  minor  facts  in  the  sum  total  of  Amer- 
ican battle  history  as  written  by  men  who  never  saw  a 
battle  or  even  smelled  the  powder  of  one  at  a  safe  dis- 
tance. But  some  conception  of  their  value  is  requisite 
to  a  properly  patriotic  appreciation  of  that  great  day  in 
the  American  calendar  of  heroism — the  8th  of  January. 

One  of  the  greatest  of  French  military  writers  has 
said :  "The  vanquished  at  Nfew  Orleans  pursued  the  real 
art  of  war  to  the  logical  conclusion.  The  victors  there 
triumphed  by  total  disregard  of  every  precept  taught  and 
of  every  principal  inculcated  in  European  or  any  other 
civilized  warfare.  Attacked  secundem  artem,  they  re- 
sisted in  defiance  of  all  rules.  They  had  little  or  no 
discipline.  Every  man  seemed  to  fight  as  if  the  whole 
issue  of  the  combat  depended  on  him.  But  one  thing 
they  certainly  could  do  and  they  did  it :  They  killed 
everybody  zvlio  came  zvithin  the  range  of  their  rifles.'' 

This  writer  speaks  of  "rifles."  He  says  nothing  about 
cannon.  He  had  studied  the  data  which  actually  ex- 
hibit w^hat  was  done.  And,  so  doing,  he  unconsciously 
offers  irrefragable  evidence  that  the  men  who  won  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans  and  saved  the  Louisiana  Pur- 
chase— next  to  Yorktown  the  most  momentous  single 
fact  in  our  warlike  history — were  not  the  motley  crews 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    VICTORY  43 

who  stood  behind  Jackson's  old  smooth-bore  cannon,  but 
the  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  riflemen. 

When  men  accompHsh  such  thnigs  and  achieve  such 
ends  against  such  odds  and  despite  such  obstacles,  the 
world  likes  to  know  of  what  stuff  they  were  made.    One 
of  them  has  given  to  history  a  word-picture  of  his  com- 
rades.   The  artist  was  Judge  Ballard,  of  Kentucky.    In 
1815  he  was  a  rifleman  at  New  Orleans;  m   1828,  a 
circuit  judge.     When  Jackson  was  runnmg  for  Pres- 
ident in  the  latter  year  he  delivered  an  oration  on    Jack- 
son and  his  Men,"  in  the  course  of  which  he  said : 

Apart   from  the  ordinary  impulses   of   patriotism   actuating 
men  who  defend  their  country's  soil  against  an  invader,    here 
Is  in  the  heart  of  hearts  of  these  men  a  deeper  feeing  a  mos 
akin  to  fanaticism.    Most  of  them  had  been  born  wlnle  yet  th 
shadow  of  the  Indian  tomahawk  hung  over  Kentucky.     Their 
baby  eyes  had  seen  the  glare  of  burning  cabins,  their  young 
ears  had  heard  the  savage  war-whoop,  and  not  a  few  of    hem 
had  gazed   upon   the   mutilated   remains   of   fathers,   mo  hers, 
brothers  or  sisters  slain  and  scalped  at  their  own  thresholds. 

They  knew  that  all  through  the  dark  and  bloody  infancy  of 
their  beloved  State  British  instigation  had  been  at  the  back 
of  the  red  demons  who  wrought  all  those  horrors,  and  for  th  s 
they  held  the  British  Government  responsible.     The  redcoats 
they  now  saw  in  front  of  them  represented  that  G-er— 
They  had  had  many  chances  at  the  savages  ^^flom  the  Br  t  sh 
instigated,  but  this  was  the  first  chance  they  had  ever  had  at  the 
B  ilish  instigators!     So  here  they  transferred  to   the  serried 
ranks  before  them  all  the  deadly  hate,  all  the  pitiless  revenge 
and  all  the  mortal  animosity  which  had  been  burned  into  their 
souls  toward  the  Indians. 

Now  consider  that  men  so  actuated  were  marksmen  among 
whom  it  was  considered  i.fra  dig.  to  shoot  at  a  ^eer  standing 
still-  who  lost  caste  among  their  fellows  if  they  hit  a  wild 


44         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

turkey  anywhere  in  the  body  or  broke  the  skin  on  a  squirrel  in 
"barking"  him  off  a  limb.  Consider,  further,  that  men  so 
actuated  and  so  endowed  with  skill  in  use  of  deadly  weapons 
were  not  merely  brave,  but  that  courage  was  their  instinct, 
congenital,  imbibed  with  mother's  milk;  that  in  their  code  no 
allowance  was  made  for  cowardice,  even  as  a  remote  possibil- 
ity, and  bravery  was  considered  a  matter  of  course,  involving  no 
particular  merit  whatever;  that  the  imminent  presence  of  dan- 
ger or  of  death  itself  never  shook  their  fortitude,  disturbed  their 
equanimity,  impaired  their  judgment  nor  affected  their  calm  de- 
liberation in  the  slightest  degree.  One  must  take  account  of 
all  these  facts  before  a  fair  idea  can  be  formed  of  the  character 
of  the  obstacle  which  stood  between  the  British  army  and  its 
objective  point  the  8th  day  of  January,  1815.  These  men  were 
not  merely  soldiers.  They  were  not  soldiers  at  all  in  the  regu- 
lar or  technical  sense  of  the  term. 

Yet  the  world  never  saw  so  orderly  and  obedient  a  body  of 
men  assembled  for  warlike  purpose.  And  the  world  never  saw, 
nor  probably  ever  will  see  again,  such  a  helpless  and  pitiable 
wreck  as  they,  in  a  few  minutes,  made  of  a  force  more  than 
double  their  number;  the  pick  and  flower  of  a  veteran  army 
hitherto  victorious  in  all  lands,  irresistible  and  invincible  every- 
where !  * 

*  General  Jackson  once  expressed  his  opinion  of  the  army  he  had  at  New 
Orleans  somewhat  more  tersely  than  Judge  Ballard  did.  In  1833  a  work 
called  The  Military  Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  (Sherer's,  we 
believe)  was  published  in  London,  and  a  copy  found  its  way  into  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Blair,  then  editor  of  the  Globe.  Mr.  Blair  showed  it  to  the  President 
— or  gave  it  to  him  to  read;  and  called  his  attention  particularly  to  a  remark 
ascribed  to  the  Duke  concerning  the  quality  of  his  army  in  Spain.  The 
remark  was:  "That  was  the  best  army  ever  seen.  It  was  an  army  that 
could  go  anywhere  and  do  anything." 

Mr.  Blair  suggested  that  the  troops  composing  that  army — or  some  of 
them — on  a  famous  occasion  signally  and  disastrously  failed  to  make  good 
the  Duke's  boast. 

"Well,  Blair,"  said  Jackson  after  a  moment's  deliberation,  "I  never  pre- 
tended that  I  had  an  army  that  'could  go  anywhere  and  do  anything.'  But 
at  New  Orleans  I  had  a  lot  of  fellers  that  could  fight  more  ways  and  kill 
more  times  than  any  other  fellers  on  the  face  of  the  earth!" 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  45 

After  the  expiration  of  the  truce,  January  9th,  the 
two  armies  maintained  their  respective  positions :  the 
British  in  their  old  camp  at  Villere's,  the  Americans  in 
the  Hues  they  had  defended.  The  skirmishing  between 
outposts  went  merrily  on,  though  perhaps  less  sanguinary 
than  before  the  battle,  because,  on  the  9th,  General  Jack- 
son withdrew  Jugeat's  Choctaws  from  the  swamp  and 
gave  them  indefinite  furlough  to  visit  their  compatriots 
in  the  reservation,  full  of  honors  and  loaded  with  plun- 
der— all  but  scalps.  The  artillery  in  the  American 
works  continued  to  cannonade  the  British  positions  that 
were  within  range,  inflicting  little  damage  but  a  vast 
deal  of  discomfort,  faithfully  and  somewhat  lugubriously 
recorded  by  "The  Subaltern"  and  Captains  Cooke,  Hill 
and  Costello  in  their  narratives. 

General  Jackson  did  not  relax  an  iota  of  his  vigilance 
or  of  preparation  to  meet  another  movement,  no  matter 
in  what  direction.  He  knew  that  re-enforcements  for 
the  British  army  were  constantly  arriving  by  sea. 
Though  he  had  advices  from  Washington,  of  date  as 
late  as  December  15th,  based  upon  reports  from  Ghent 
about  November  5th,  that  negotiations  for  peace  were 
in  full  progress,  he  did  not  believe  either  that  they  would 
be  successful  or  that  any  peace  made  at  Ghent  would 
affect  any  conquests  the  British  might  achieve  within  the 
Louisiana  Purchase.  Day  by  day,  from  papers  found 
on  the  persons  of  British  officers,  from  the  rodomontade 
of  Spaniards  and  from  other  sources,  information  reached 
him  that  the  enemy's  purpose,  so  far  as  concerned  Louis- 
iana, had  been  conquest  and  permanent  occupation  in  the 
ostensible  behalf  of  Spain,  irrespective  of  any  stipula- 
tions that  might  be  signed  at  Ghent. 


46         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

This  ominous  information,  acting  upon  his  natura* 
hatred  and  distrust  of  England  and  everything  Enghsh, 
impelled  him  to  even  increased  precautions.  He  knew 
that,  terribly  punished  as  it  had  been,  the  British  army 
on  the  soil  of  Louisiana  was  still  far  superior  to  his  own 
numerically;  that  it  was  backed  by  the  most  powerful 
fleet  ever  assembled  in  the  Gulf;  and  from  these  facts  he 
reasoned  that  British  obstinacy  would  not  be  likely  to 
abandon  wholly  so  vast  a  purpose  even  under  stress  of 
such  a  disaster  as  the  8th  of  January.  Hence  he  main- 
tained martial  law^  in  full  rigor  and  made  every  provision 
possible  with  his  slender  resources  to  guard  against  fur- 
ther attack. 

These  conditions  lasted  without  change  for  ten  days. 
Finally,  during  the  night  of  January  i8th.  General  Lam- 
bert withdrew  the  British  army  from  its  ill-fated  camp 
at  Villere's,  and  before  nightfall  on  the  19th  was  safe 
through  the  swamp  to  Bienvenue  landing,  under  the  gims 
of  that  part  of  the  fleet  w^hich  could  get  into  Lake 
Borgne. 

Some  writers  have  converted  into  history — so-called 
— a  sample  of  French  vivacity  to  the  effect  that  the 
departure  of  the  British  was  first  discovered  by  the  vet- 
eran Humbert,  who,  the  story  goes,  ''called  Jackson's 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  enemy's  outposts,  on  the 
morning  of  the  19th,  were  dummies — and  not  only  that, 
but  proved  it  by  the  fact  that  crows  were  to  be  seen 
flying  and  alighting  on  the  ground  all  about  them." 

This  is  an  interesting  story.  But  the  truth  is  that 
the  first  to  report  the  retreat  of  the  British  army  was 
Major  Hinds,  who  came  into  Jackson's  head-quarters 
at  daybreak,  the   19th,   and  reported  that  his  mounted 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  47 

patrol  had  already  occupied  the  advanced  lines  of  the 
enemy's  camp,  at  the  same  time  asking  permission  to 
pursue  them  with  his  own  squadron  and  Captain  Ogden's 
troop  of  the  First  United  States  Dragoons.  It  was  not 
at  that  moment  light  enough  for  the  veteran  Humbert 
to  have  seen  "crows"  at  a  distance  of  two  miles,  even 
had  he  been  looking  for  them.  Jackson  authorized 
Hinds  and  Ogden  to  pursue  the  enemy  closely  enough 
to  observe  their  movements,  but  not  to  attack  their  rear 
or  proceed  farther  than  the  limit  of  firm  ground ;  and  in 
no  event  to  expose  their  cavalry  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy's 
rear-guard. 

During  the  day  the  General,  with  his  stafY,  visited  the 
deserted  camp,  and  on  his  return  to  head-quarters  issued 
orders  for  his  army  to  retire  from  the  Chalmette  lines 
— which  the  almost  continuous  rains  had  now  converted 
into  a  quagmire.  A  picket-guard  was  still  maintained 
at  the  lines,  but  the  main  body  of  the  army  removed  to 
dryer  and  more  commodious  cantonments  between  the 
city  and  Lake  Pontchartrain. 

Under  such  conditions,  and  without  means  of  know- 
ing what  was  being  done  elsewhere,  Jackson  and  his 
army  kept  camp  around  New  Orleans  and  grimly  awaited 
developments. 

During  the  period  between  the  battle  and  the  embark- 
ation of  the  British  army,  the  latter  continued  to  receive 
belated  re-enforcements.  On  the  20th  of  January,  the 
day  after  the  retreat  from  Chalmette,  transports  arrived 
bringing  two  regiments  of  infantry — the  Fortieth  and 
Forty-ninth;  but  they  did  not  debark  from  their  ships. 
The  Fortieth  Regiment  had  sailed  from  Plymouth  the 
8th  of  December,  only  sixteen  days  before  the  Treaty 


48         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

of  Ghent  was  signed  and  when  the  British  Cabinet  knew 
perfectly  well  that  it  would  be  concluded. 

Jackson  had  a  party  of  Baratarian  scouts,  who  kept 
him  constantly  advised  of  the  movements  of  the  British 
— re-enforcements  and  all.  Beginning  with  the  arrival 
of  a  battalion  of  infantry  on  transports  the  day  the  battle 
was  fought  and  ending  March  loth,  three  days  after  the 
British  commander  received  official  notice  of  peace,  the 
total  of  re-enforcements  arriving  in  British  transports 
was  five  regiments  of  infantry,  three  companies  of  gar- 
rison artillery  and  a  company  of  sappers  and  miners,  or 
engineer  troops — aggregating  5,600  strong.  And  of 
these,  the  very  last — those  arriving  March  loth — had 
sailed  from  Barbadoes,  February  i8th,  under  orders 
dated  in  London,  December  22d,  two  days  before  the 
treaty  was  signed! 

Jackson  was  not  so  fortunate  in  the  matter  of  re- 
enforcements  as  the  British  were.  Except  recruits  to 
fill  up  the  ranks  of  the  Seventh  and  Forty-fourth  Regu- 
lars and  the  batteries  of  Humphrey  and  Spotts,  no  re- 
enforcements  came  to  him.  But  he  did  enjoy  a  little 
good  fortune  in  another  direction.  The  British  soldiers 
killed  or  wounded  the  8th  of  January  left  about  1,200 
serviceable  muskets,  with  accoutrements  complete,  on  the 
field  where  they  fell.  This  supply  of  ^'ordnance  mate- 
rial," obtained  by  a  kind  of  "requisition"  which  never 
fails  to  "draw,"  enabled  him,  the  day  after  the  battle, 
to  arm  his  Kentucky  and  Louisiana  militia  cap-a-pie, 
thereby,  with  his  wholesome  system  of  discipline,  con- 
verting them  into  first-rate  soldiers. 

The  total  force  of  British  troops  sent  against  New 
Orleans,  including  the  belated  re-enforcements  arriving 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  49 

after  the  battle,  was  14,400  of  all  ranks,  including  the 
naval  brigade.  Jackson's  maximum  force,  after  he  had 
armed  his  Kentucky  militia  with  British  muskets  and  all 
his  regular  recruits  had  reported  for  duty,  was  5,780 
men. 

The  Treaty  of  Ghent  was,  indeed,  signed  the  day  be- 
fore Christmas,  fifteen  days  before  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans;  but  not  until  the  nth  of  February  did  the  news 
of  it  reach  New  York,  and  it  was  the  evening  of  the 
13th  when  the  tidings  were  known  at  Washington. 
The  news  of  the  victory,  embodied  in  Jackson's  mod- 
est despatch,  did  not  reach  Washington  till  the  4^h  of 

February. 

'Time  and  space"  had  not  been  "annihilated"  in  those 
days.  The  travel  of  news  was  measured  at  sea  by  the 
speed  of  sail-ships ;  on  land  by  the  swiftness  and  endur- 
ance of  horseflesh. 

The  distance  between  Europe  and  America  was  thirty- 
odd  days  by  the  most  successful  navigation.  That  be- 
tween Washington  and  New  Orleans  was  nineteen  days 
by  the  fleetest  horses ;  and  the  route  for  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  way  was  wilderness. 

Authentic  or  official  news  of  the  treaty  arrived  at 
New  Orleans  by  courier  from  Washington  the  13th  of 
March,  seventy-nine  days  after  its  signing  at  Ghent  and 
sixty-four  days  after  the  battle. 

Under  these  insuperable  conditions  of  time  and  space 
the  war  lasted,  so  far  as  Jackson's  army  was  concerned, 
until  March  13th;  and,  at  least  until  the  British  invaders 
embarked  on  board  their  ships,  which  occurred  the  27th 
of  January,  there  could  be  no  relaxation  of  readiness 
Vol.  II.— 4 


50         HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

for  further  attack  or  of  vigilance  in  guarding  against  it. 

IMartial  law  was  still  rigorously  maintained,  resulting 
in  serious  clashes  between  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army  and  the  civil  authorities — legislative  and  judi- 
cial. Of  these  affairs  it  is  necessary  to  say  here  only 
that  General  Jackson  proved  as  capable  of  repressing 
political  turbulence  as  he  had  been  of  repulsing  military 
force,  and  his  sway  was  as  supreme  after  the  rescue  of 
the  city  as  before  it. 

For  this  he  was  indebted  mainly  to  the  men  who  had 
won  the  victory — the  veteran  riflemen  of  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky.  Whether  the  regulars  he  had — less  than  700 
strong — would  have  been  sufficient  to  overawe  the  tur- 
bulent elements  to  be  dealt  with  is  a  question.  But 
when  the  regulars  were  re-enforced  by  about  2,400  rifle- 
men, who  never  missed  anybody  and  who,  as  everyone 
knew,  would  obey  orders  to  the  letter,  there  was  no 
doubt  as  to  Jackson's  ability  to  meet  any  emergency  of 
any  kind  in  any  quarter. 

Meantime  the  news  of  victory  w^as  speeding  north  and 
east  as  fast  as  horseflesh  could  carry  it.  Bill  Phillips, 
who  had  brought  the  news  of  the  war  to  Nashville  in 
18 1 2,  was  selected  by  the  General  to  carry  there  the 
tidings  of  its  greatest  and  last  triumph.  We  do  not 
know^  whether  he  rode  the  pace  in  181 5  that  he 
did  in  18 12,  but  he  had  the  news  in  Nashville  the  14th 
of  January.  In  due  time  the  tidings  were  unfolded  in 
Washington,  Philadelphia,  New  York  and  New  Eng- 
land. Enthusiastic  rejoicing  was  everywhere — even  in 
Boston.  The  disunion  convention  at  Hartford  a  few 
months  before  was  forgotten  in  the  general  clamor  of 
popular  joy.     The  administration  at  Washington,  just 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  51 

"convalescing"  from  the  shock  of  the  previous  July,  was 
well  enough  to  rejoice  with  its  characteristic  conserva- 
tism. But  if  Mr.  Madison  did  not  yield  to  enthusiasm 
— which  was  foreign  to  his  nature — his  warmer-blooded 
wife  did.  She  illuminated  the  building  used  as  a  tem- 
porary executive  mansion  in  lieu  of  the  White  House 
the  British  had  burned;  and  more  than  one  American 
reflected  that  doubtless  the  hands  which  set  fire  to  our 
Capitol  and  White  House  were  now  mouldering  in  the 
wet  graveyard  at  Chalmette. 

Among  the  characteristic  "letters  from  camp  to  the 
folks  at  home"  was  one  written  by  David  Buell,  under 
date  of  "Camp  at  Chalmette,  La.,  Jan.  14,  181 5,"  ad- 
dressed to  his  father,  Ezra — the  Revolutionary  veteran 
of  Morgan's  riflemen,  etc. — at  Esopus,  Ulster  County, 
New  York.  In  the  main  it  was  a  description  of  the 
battle  as  seen  from  the  line  of  Captain  MacAfee's  com- 
pany, Adair's  brigade,  and  need  not  be  reproduced  here 
because  it  would  be  little  more  than  a  repetition  of  the 
narratives  of  General  Butler  and  Private  Ogilvy,  already 
set  forth.     But  the  conclusion  was  amusing: 

You  may  recollect  that  in  your  answer  to  my  letter  from 
Sandusky,  giving  some  account  of  our  battles  under  Harrison 
in  the  Northwest,  you  said :  "  Oh,  yes ;  you  Western  fellows  do 
pretty  well  so  long  as  you  have  nothing  in  front  of  you  but 
Indians  and  Canadian  militia.  Wait  till  you  get  hold  of  some 
British  Regulars,  such  as  we  old  Revolutioners  had  to  deal 
with.     Then  talk !" 

I  presume  you  remember  that.  Well,  this  is  to  inform  you 
that  "we  Western  fellows,"  as  you  call  us,  "got  hold  of  some 
British  Regulars"  down  here  the  other  day ! 

You  will  probably  see  something  about  it  in  the  papers  be- 
fore this  can  reach  you !  Your  Affectionate  Son, 

Dave 


52         HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

The  rejoinder  of  the  Revolutionary  veteran,  if  any, 
is  not  of  record  in  the  family  archives. 

The  value  of  Jackson's  victory  was  not  confined  to  its 
momentous  importance  as  the  salvation  of  the  Louisiana 
Purchase.  That  would  have  been,  indeed,  enough.  But 
it  went  far  beyond  that.  It  saved  not  only  Louisiana, 
but  the  self-respect  of  the  American  people.  Generally 
speaking,  the  news  of  it  and  of  the  Peace  at  Ghent 
reached  the  Atlantic  seaboard  about  the  same  time. 
Without  it  the  Peace  would  have  seemed  exactly  what 
it  was — an  act  of  British  grace.  With  it,  the  Peace 
took  on  the  air  of  American  conquest,  and  has  held  that 
air  ever  since. 

With  the  retreat  of  the  British  and  the  withdrawal 
of  Jackson's  army  from  the  Chalmette  lines  to  comfort- 
able cantonments  on  the  outskirts  of  New  Orleans,  a 
new  life  for  the  soldiers  began.  They  came  from  the 
lines  toilworn,  tired,  dirty,  ragged  and  unkempt;  ex- 
hausted by  unceasing  vigilance,  many  of  them  ill  or 
ailing  with  the  distempers  incident  to  living  in  the  mias- 
ma of  the  lower  Mississippi  and  sleeping  in  the  mud. 
Between  the  9th  of  January  and  the  23d,  only  fourteen 
days,  no  fewer  than  500  of  them  had  been  sent  to  hos- 
pital with  fever  or  dysentery,  and  some  died.  When  it 
is  borne  in  mind  that  these  were  frontiersmen,  inured 
to  every  conceivable  hardship,  privation  and  exposure 
to  the  elements,  the  trials  that  could  kill  them  may  be 
imagined  but  not  described. 

Jackson  himself  had  fully  shared  the  rigors  which  he 
asked  his  men  to  endure;  staying  with  them  in  the 
squalid  and  half-submerged  camp  or  bivouac  and  never 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  53 

even  so  much  as  taking  a  day's  trip  to  the  city  until 
his  soldiers  could  go  with  him  and  share  his  relief. 
But,  though  the  departure  of  the  enemy  left  them  free 
to  rest  their  weary  bodies  and  restore  their  enfeebled 
health,  there  was  still  plenty  for  them  to  do.  Jackson 
rightly  calculated  that  there  could  be  no  real  safety  for 
Louisiana  until  peace  should  be  formally  declared,  the 
last  British  soldier  withdrawn  from  our  soil  and  the 
last  English  ship  out  of  sight  from  our  shores.  The 
invasion  itself  had  been  conceived  in  perfidy,  executed 
by  stealth,  and  its  real  objects  treacherously  veiled. 
The  fact  that  it  culminated  in  disaster  the  like  of  which 
had  never  before  been  seen  and  in  ignominy  as  abject 
as  its  conduct  had  been  base,  afforded  no  sure  guarantee 
that  it  would  not  be  tried  again. 

Jackson  had  before  him  an  object-lesson :  When  Lam- 
bert re-embarked  his  beaten  and  shattered  army  he  did 
not  sail  with  it  aw^ay  to  seek  rest  or  peace  on  British 
soil.  He  took  his  great  armada  and  his  remaining  le- 
gions around  to  Mobile  and  assailed  the  feeble  defences 
of  that  harbor,  taking  Fort  Bowyer,  with  its  puny  gar- 
rison— outnumbered  more  than  a  hundred  to  one — the 
nth  of  February,  only  two  days  before  the  official  news 
of  peace  was  delivered  to  the  admiral  and  the  general 
in  command.  Dealing  with  such  a  foe,  there  could  be 
no  safety  but  in  the  most  sleepless  vigilance,  no  security 
but  in  the  most  perfect  readiness  to  meet  him  at  any 
time  and  on  any  terms. 

These  were  Jackson's  reasons  for  persistence  in  the 
restraints  of  martial  law,  which  he  openly  announced 
his  intention  to  maintain  until  the  formal  ratification  of 
the  treaty  by  the  Senate;  which  alone  could  relieve  the 


54         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

armed  forces  of  the  government  from  responsibility  for 
the  protection  of  our  soil.  They  were  sufficient  reasons 
and  a  great  majority  of  the  people  of  Louisiana,  both 
French  and  American,  quietly,  if  not  cordially,  acqui- 
esced in  the  situation.  A  few  small  politicians  of  both 
races,  however,  demurred,  and  carried  their  protest  to 
the  extent  of  attempted  resistance,  legislative  and  judi- 
cial alike.  On  the  i8th  of  February,  news  of  the  sign- 
ing of  the  treaty  became  known  in  New  Orleans.  It 
came  through  British  channels.  There  was  nothing 
about  it  of  which  the  American  commander  could  prop- 
erly or  safely  take  the  slightest  cognizance. 

The  origin  of  this  report  was  that,  soon  after  the 
British  army  retired  to  its  ships.  General  Jackson  sent 
Edward  Livingston  and  Messrs.  Shepherd  and  White, 
of  New  Orleans,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  to  General 
Lambert  on  a  mission  to  arrange  a  cartel  for  exchange 
of  prisoners  and  also  to  restore  to  General  Keane 
his  sword,  which  had  been  found  on  the  field  where  he 
was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  the  8th.  General  Keane 
had  requested  the  return  of  the  sword,  if  found,  because 
it  was  valuable  to  him  as  a  memento  of  previous  service. 
The  envoys  were  hospitably  received  on  board  the  flag- 
ship Tonnant;  but  as  the  British  were  about  to  attack 
Mobile,  they  were  detained  in  order  to  prevent  them 
from  carrying  any  information  to  the  American  com- 
mander. 

On  February  13th,  Admiral  Malcolm  received  a 
marked  copy  of  the  London  Times  dated  six  weeks 
before,  which  contained  a  bare  announcement  that  the 
treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed  at  Ghent,  December 
24th.      Mr.    Livingston   and   his   companions   were   re- 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  55 

leased  the  next  day,  and  arrived  in  New  Orleans  the 
19th.  Of  course  they  spread  the  news.  But  no  official 
advices  had  reached  General  Jackson.  The  British  com- 
mander did  not  view  it  as  a  reason  for  discontinuing 
operations  against  Mobile. 

Neither  commander  doubted  that  it  was  based  upon 
fact,  but  neither  could  accept  it  as  an  official  reason  for 
suspending  hostilities.  General  Jackson,  foreseeing  that 
the  news  of  peace,  irregular  as  its  source  might  be, 
would  make  the  mercurial  people  of  New  Orleans  restless 
under  the  restraints  imposed,  issued  a  general  order  the 
moment  the  news  was  imparted  to  him,  in  which  he 
besought  the  troops  to  be  patient  until  the  good  news 
might  receive  official  verification.  In  the  same  order 
he  said  to  the  people: 

*'You  must  not  be  thrown  into  a  false  sense  of  security 
by  hopes  that  may  prove  delusive.  It  is  by  holding  out 
such  that  an  artful  and  insidious  enemy  too  often  seeks 
to  accomplish  what  the  utmost  exertions  of  his  strength 
will  not  enable  him  to  effect.  To  place  you  off  your 
guard  and  attack  you  by  surprise  is  the  natural  expedient 
of  one  who,  having  experienced  the  superiority  of  your 
arms,  still  hopes  to  overcome  you  by  stratagem." 

This  general  order,  while  it  reconciled  the  troops  to 
the  situation,  produced  little  or  no  effect  on  the  populace. 
They  clamored  for  the  disbandment  of  the  militia  and 
abrogation  of  martial  law  at  once.  On  February  21st 
the  Louisiana  Gazette  published  a  paragraph  in  which 
it  was  stated  that  "a  flag  has  just  arrived  from  Admiral 
Cochrane  to  General  Jackson  officially  announcing  the 
conclusion  of  peace  at  Ghent  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  and  virtually  requesting  a  suspension 
of  arms." 


56         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

General  Jackson  at  once  sent  a  communication  to  the 
editor  denouncing  the  statement  as  untrue  and  requiring 
pubhcation  of  the  correction,  which  was  done,  though 
with  bad  grace.  This  part  of  the  affair  was  ended. 
But  in  the  Ga::ette  of  March  3d,  and  in  the  Journal  de 
Louisiane,  an  article  appeared  in  French,  signed  "Citoyen 
de  la  Louisiane,  de  I'origin  frangais."  It  was  an  open 
and  undisguised  appeal  to  the  French  people  of  the  city 
and  State  to  resist  the  authority  of  the  American  gen- 
eral. The  tone  was  moderate  and,  so  far  as  concerned 
his  military  operations,  highly  complimentary  to  Gen- 
eral Jackson, 

The  General  acted  as  soon  as  Mr.  Livingston  had 
translated  the  article  for  him.  Sending  for  the  editor 
to  appear  at  head-quarters,  he  demanded  the  name  of 
the  author.  The  editor  said  the  author  was  M.  Louail- 
lier,  a  member  of  the  legislature.  Two  days  later  M. 
Louaillier  was  arrested  by  the  provost-guard  and  placed 
in  confinement  in  the  officers'  quarters  of  the  barracks. 

Pierre  Louis  Morel,  a  French  lawyer,  as  counsel  for 
Louaillier,  at  once  went  before  Judge  D.  A.  Hall,  United 
States  District  Judge  for  the  District  of  Louisiana,  and 
obtained  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  which  was  served  on 
General  Jackson  the  same  day.  The  result  was  not  ex- 
actly such  as  the  prisoner,  his  learned  counsel  and  Judge 
Hall  evidently  anticipated.  Instead  of  procuring  the 
liberation  of  M.  Louaillier,  it  produced  the  following 
order  from  General  Jackson  to  Colonel  Arbuckle,  pro- 
vost marshal-general : 

Having  received  proof  that  Dominick  A.  Hall  has  been  aid- 
ing and  abetting  and  exciting  mutiny  within  my  camp,  you  will 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  57 

forthwith  order  a  detachment  to  arrest  and  confine  him  and 
report  to  me  as  soon  as  arrested.     .     .     . 

(Signed)     A.  Jackson,  Maj'r-Gen'l  Com'd'g. 

The  order  was  obeyed  and  Judge  Hall  was  arrested 
and  confined  in  the  barracks,  along  with  Louaillier.  The 
latter  was  the  next  day  placed  upon  trial  by  court-martial 
under  charges  and  specifications  of  ''exciting  to  mutiny," 
''being  a  spy,"  and  several  other  violations  of  martial 
law,  amply  sufficient  to  justify  capital  punishment  if  the 
prisoner  had  been  found  guilty. 

But  nothing  more  serious  than  arraignment  happened 
to  Louaillier.  The  General  did  not  wish  to  try  him,  but 
he  did  intend  to  use  his  case  as  a  warning  example, 
knowing  as  he  did  that  but  a  few  days  could  elapse 
before  the  receipt  of  official  advices  of  peace  which  would 
warrant  him  in  terminating  the  reign  of  martial  law. 

In  the  meantime  the  General  contented  himself  with 
sending  Judge  Hall  beyond  the  lines  of  sentinels  with 
orders  to  stay  outside  "until  the  ratification  of  peace 
shall  be  regularly  announced  or  until  the  British  forces 
shall  have  left  the  southern  coast." 

The  waiting  was  not  long.  On  March  13th,  General 
Jackson  received  from  Washington  despatches  announc- 
ing the  ratification  of  the  treaty  by  the  Senate  and  en- 
closing copies  of  all  the  documents.  Within  an  hour 
after  the  arrival  of  these  papers  a  general  order  was 
posted  through  all  the  public  places  and  printed  as  an 
official  advertisement  in  newspaper  "extras,"  abrogating 
martial  law,  restoring  all  civil  authority  and  granting 
immunity  for  all  military  offences. 

The  next  day  appeared  another  general  order  inform- 
ing the  militia  that  their  services  and  toils  were  ended, 


58  HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

and  that  as  soon  as  they  could  be  paid  off  and  provided 
.with  transport  and  suppHes  they  would  be  sent  to  their 
homes.  The  order  concluded  with  a  truly  Jacksonian 
peroration : 

Go,  then,  my  brave  companions,  to  your  homes ;  to  those 
tender  connections  and  those  blissful  scenes  which  render  life 
so  dear;  full  of  honor  and  crowned  with  laurels  that  never 
fade.  .  .  .  Continue,  fellow-soldiers,  on  your  passage  to 
your  several  destinations  to  preserve  that  subordination,  that 
dignified  and  manly  deportment  which  have  so  ennobled  your 
character.  .  .  .  Farewell,  fellow-soldiers.  The  expression  of 
your  General's  thanks  is  feeble,  but  the  gratitude  of  a  country 
of  freemen  is  yours — yours  the  applause  of  an  admiring  world ! 

Judge  Hall  returned  at  once  to  the  city.  Mr.  Louail- 
lier  was  at  liberty.  And  in  a  few^  days  the  volunteer 
army  was  disbanded. 

The  soldiers  had  seen  the  hardest  kind  of  service  w^hile 
hostilities  actually  raged.  After  the  British  army  re- 
tired from  their  front  their  daily  lot  had  been  easier, 
their  quarters,  clothing  and  food  better,  and  their  oppor- 
tunities for  bodily  rest  and  social  recreation  almost 
boundless.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  friction  be- 
tween the  General  and  citizens,  between  the  hard  hand 
of  martial  law  and  the  popular  aspirations  toward  resto- 
ration of  civic  freedom,  there  was  no  bar  to  the  social 
relations  between  the  men  of  the  army  and  the  people 
they  had  defended. 

With  hardly  exceptions  enough  to  prove  the  rule, 
Jackson's  army  of  New  Orleans  was  an  association  of 
gentlemen.  This  was  true  alike  of  the  Creoles  of 
Louisiana  and  the  pioneers  of  Tennessee,  Kentucky  and 
Mississippi.     Many  of  the  men   in   the  ranks  were  of 


AFTER    THE    GREAT   VICTORY  59 

high  social  rank  at  home.  In  this  there  was  no  distinc- 
tion as  between  officers  and  soldiers.  The  number  of 
rough  or  questionable  characters  or  of  men  socially  un- 
presentable was  too  small  to  affect  the  general  character 

of  the  force. 

The  regulars  were,  as  they  always  are,  orderly  and 
obedient.     But  the  true  moral  tone  of  the  army  was 
fixed  and  regulated  by  the  quality  of  the  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky  and  Mississippi  veteran  riflemen  under  Coffee, 
Carroll,  Adair  and  Hinds.     As  they  had  been  the  bone 
and  sinew  of  the  army  in  battle,  so  now  m  the  less 
trying  and  gentler  duties  of  garrison  they  were  its  ex- 
emplars of  patience,  fidelity  and  manliness.    Except  when 
on  duty  under  arms,  the  officers  and  soldiers  of  those 
commands  always  associated  on  perfectly  equal  terms. 
Discipline  was  a  matter  of  common  consent,  and  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  "Regulations."     Yet  they  were 
"the  most  orderly  and  obedient  soldiers  the  world  ever 
saw" ;  punishments  were  unknown,  and  they  stood  ready 
at  any  moment  to  destroy,  as  they  already  had  done, 
three  or  four  times  their  number  of  any  troops  that 
could  be  mustered  anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Twenty-five  hundred  men  of  that  kind  were  encamped 

in  or  near  a  city  of  about  twenty  thousand  people,  whom 

they  had  just  defended  against  an  invader.     Of  those 

twenty  thousand  people  about  half  were  white,  the  rest 

negro  slaves.     The  white  population  of  New  Orleans 

ini8i5  was  more  than  four-fifths  Creole-that  is  to  say, 

French  colonists  born  in  this  country ;  and  there  were 

a  few  of  Spanish  blood.    Among  the  colored  population 

were  many  of  mixed  breeds  of  all  shades  and  degrees. 

But  the  French  race  predominated  over  all  others  as 


6o         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

four  is  to  one,  and  the  esteem  in  which  they  held  the 
American  frontiersmen  who  had  defended  them  against 
the  traditional  and  hated  foe  of  their  beautiful  mother- 
land was  great  indeed. 

Two  or  three  incidents  of  the  time  may  ser\^e  to  ex- 
hibit all :  A  short  distance  above  the  city  lived  a  Creole 
planter  named  Sauve.  He  had  two  daughters.  Among 
the  wounded  and  captured  British  officers  was  Major 
Mitchell,  of  the  Ninety-fifth  Rifle  Brigade,  and  as  he 
could  talk  French  fluently  he  was  a  frequent  visitor  at 
the  Sauve  mansion — being  on  parole.  One  afternoon, 
while  he  was  there,  three  enlisted  men  belonging  to  Cap- 
tain Helms's  company  of  Kentucky  riflemen,  w^hose 
camp  was  near  by,  called  upon  the  young  ladies. 

They  were  most  cordially  received  and  royally  enter- 
tained. But  the  Kentuckians  ^  could  not  speak  French 
and  the  English  vocabulary  of  the  young  ladies  was 
quite  limited.  So  the  British  major  was  pressed  into 
the  service  as  interpreter.  The  Kentuckians  were  clad 
in  homespun  and  wore  their  usual  hunting-jackets;  but 
they  were  none  the  less  self-respecting,  bore  themselves 
with  native  dignity  and  exhibited  much  intelligence. 

When  they  were  gone,  Major  Mitchell  said :  'They 
seem  to  be  clever  fellows;  but  I  don't  see  how  such  un- 
couth young  men  can  interest  ladies  of  your  culture  and 
refinement.     They  seem  to  be  of  an  inferior  class." 

"Pardon  me,  major,"  said  Mademoiselle  Eugenie 
Sauve;  ''you  know  we  French  girls  always  worship  con- 
querors!" 

The  major  did  not  pursue  the  topic. 

Undoubtedly  the  three  young  Kentuckians  were 
"clever  fellows,"  as  the  English  major  said.    One  of  them 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  6i 

lived  to  be  governor  of  a  Western  State  and  senator 
of  the  United  States,  another  to  be  United  States  dis- 
trict judge— and  the  name  of  the  third  was  Crittenden. 
But  in  1 815,  one  was  a  sergeant  and  the  other  two 
were  privates  in  Adair's  riflemen;  and,  humble  as  their 
rank  may  have  been  or  howsoever  unpretending  their 
attire,  they  had  but  a  few  days  before  borne  a  lusty  hand 
in  the  proceedings  to  which  the  lofty  English  major 
himself  was  indebted  for  the  honor  and  pleasure  of  ac- 
quaintance with  Mesdemoiselles  Sauve. 

One  day  a  mounted  courier  carried  a  despatch  from 
head-quarters  to  the  mansion  of  Colonel  Latour,  some 
distance  from  town,  asking  that  gentleman  to  call  upon 
the  commander-in-chief  the  next  morning.    Two  wound- 
ed British  officers  had  been  given  hospital  in  the  Latour 
mansion  and  were  now  convalescent.     They  were  Cap- 
tain Erskine  and  Lieutenant  Urquhart.     The  courier,  a 
sergeant,  arrived  just  as  the  family  were  sitting  down 
to  luncheon.     Colonel  Latour,  with  true  Creole  hospital- 
ity, invited  the  handsome  sergeant  to  join  them  at  table, 
called  him  by  name,  and  introduced  him  to  his  wife  and 
daughter;  also  to  the  British  officers.     The  American 
accepted  all  as  a  matter  of  course,   and  bore  himself 
with  the  dignity  of  a  major-general.     The  British  offi- 
cers—unlike Major  Mitchell— were  much  interested  in 
the  sergeant.     When  he  was  gone  they  commented  on 
his  fine  bearing  and  intelligence  and  expressed  aston- 
ishment that  such  a  man  should  wear  no  more  exalted 
insignia  than  chevrons. 

"Why,  bless  us!"  exclaimed  the  generous  old  French- 
man, ''gentlemen,  that  boy's  father  is  the  richest  man 
in   Mississippi    Territory,    the    principal    merchant   and 


62         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

banker  of  Natchez,  and  my  partner  in  business!  The 
boy  himself  has  been  educated  by  private  tutors  here  in 
New  Orleans,  and  had  just  begim  the  study  of  the  law 
in  Mr.  Livingston's  office  when  the  war  broke  out.  He 
has  been  all  through  Jackson's  campaigns  in  the  Creek 
country  and  in  Florida  and  here  with  ]\Iajor  Hinds's 
IMississippi  mounted  rifles.  And  I  beg  to  tell  you  that 
most  of  the  young  men  of  Hinds's  command  would  grace 
epaulets  if  there  were  enough  to  go  round." 

'Tt  certainly  is  a  wonderful  army,"  was  the  only  com- 
ment of  Captain  Erskine. 

Lieutenant  Urquhart  then  remarked :  "I  noticed  in  his 
conversation  with  Madame  and  Mademoiselle  that  he 
spoke  French  fluently  and  well." 

''Of  course!  Why  not?  His  principal  tutor  was  the 
most  eminent  French  savant  in  New  Orleans,  the  la- 
mented  Touro,  whose  instruction  in  all  branches  of  edu- 
cation was  carried  on  in  French.  He  is  only  an  orderly 
at  head-quarters  here,  but  his  father  is  one  of  General 
Jackson's  most  intimate  friends." 

A  few  days  after  the  battle,  while  the  army  yet  lay 
in  the  Chalmette  lines  awaiting  the  pleasure  of  the  British 
force  still  in  camp  at  Villere's  plantation,  a  well-built 
youth,  about  nineteen  or  twenty  years  old,  belonging 
to  Carroll's  command,  was  on  sentry-post  at  the  breast- 
work, pacing  up  and  down  with  a  long  rifle  carelessly 
thrown  over  his  right  shoulder.  The  officer  of  the  day 
was  a  captain  in  the  Forty-fourth  United  States  In- 
fantry. General  Jackson  came  along  in  his  usual  way, 
on  foot,  inspecting  the  lines.  Seeing  this  boy  on  duty, 
the  General  stopped  and  talked  with  him  two  or  three 
minutes  in  a   familiar  way,  and  finally  handed  him  a 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  63 

letter,  which  the  young  fellow  read  and  then  handed  it 
back  to  the  General,  who  resumed  his  tour  of  inspection. 

The  regular  officer,  who  had  witnessed  the  interview, 
went  to  the  youthful  soldier  and  asked  his  name. 

*'My  name  is  Hays,  sir." 

"You  seem  to  be  acquainted  with  the  General. 

**0h,  yes,  sir.  He  is  my  uncle— that  is,  you  know, 
my  uncle  up  home  in  Tennessee!" 

The  officer,  amused,  asked: 

"Your  uncle,  up  home  in  Tennessee,  you  say;  and 

what  is  he  here?" 

"Oh,  here  he  is  the  General,  sir!" 

To  further  inquiries  the  boy  responded  that  he  was 
the  youngest  son  of  Mrs.  Jackson's  sister,  Mrs.  Hays, 
and  that  he  had  lived  a  good  part  of  his  boyhood  at  the 
Hermitage  with  "Uncle  Jackson  and  Aunt  Rachel."  He 
then  explained  to  the  officer  that  the  letter  General  Jack- 
son showed  him  was  from  "Aunt  Rachel"  and  contained 
some  messages  from  his  own  family.  Finally,  the  officer 
remarked:  "And  so  you  are  General  Jackson's  nephew 
and  a  private  soldier  here.     I  wonder  that  he  doesn't  do 

better  by  you." 

"Well,  sir,  that  doesn't  make  any  difference  to  him. 
So  long  as  Fm  here  with  a  gun,  he's  satisfied!" 

Such  was  the  rank  and  file  of  the  army  that  made 
the  8th  of  January  immortal  and  saved  the  Louisiana 

Purchase. 

The  Louisiana  campaign  of  1814-15.  fi"om  the  purely 
military  point  of  view,  was  the  worst  failure  and  in- 
volved the  most  sickening  disaster  that  ever  befell  the 
arms  of  Great  Britain.  And  it  was  also  more  utterly 
destitute  of  redeeming  feature  or  consolatory  incident 


ir 


64        HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

than  any  other  defeat  recorded  in  British  warHke  an- 
nals. Braddock  in  1755  had  been  avenged  by  Wolfe  in 
1759.  Even  the  clouds  of  misfortune  that  gathered  about 
Burgoyne  and  Cornwallis  in  the  fates  of  Saratoga  and 
Yorktown  had  here  and  there  streaks  of  silver  to  varie- 
gate their  gloom.  At  the 'worst,  both  these  beaten  gen- 
erals surrendered  armies  worn  out  by  fighting  and  by 
privation  to  superior  forces  of  fresh  troops,  exultant  with 
victory  and  animated  by  all  the  omens  of  conquest.  But 
the  British  expedition  against  Louisiana  recoiled  with 
awful  loss  from  the  face  of  a  foe  almost  absurdly  in- 
ferior in  numbers,  organization  and  equipment;  and, 
worst  of  all,  retreated  by  stealth  without  inflicting  upon 
its  adversary  as  a  whole  punishment  equal  to  one-fourth 
of  the  slaughter  meted  out  to  single  companies  in  its 
own  line. 

Amazing  as  this  result  was,  calm  analysis  shows  it 
to  have  been  perfectly  logical.  From  beginning  to  end, 
not  one  British  calculation  came  out  in  the  manner  ex- 
pected. Every  contributory  part  of  the  grand  plan  mis- 
carried. Not  one  event  occurred  as  it  had  been  pre- 
conceived. Every  movement,  from  the  rendezvous  at 
Negril  Bay  to  the  assault  on  the  Chalmette  lines,  was  a 
month  late.  The  general  strategy  was  halting,  strag- 
gling and  indecisive.  The  tactics  on  the  spot  were  dila- 
tory and  nerveless  at  the  beginning,  and  the  initiatory 
blunders  were  converted  into  crimes  by  desperate  folly 
and  hopeless  sacrifice  at  the  end. 

The  physical  resources  which  England  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  her  chosen  general  were  superior  to  any  she 
had  ever  before  lavished  upon  the  commander  of  an 
expedition   for  permanent  conquest.      No  British  com- 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  65 

mander — except  Wellington  in  Spain — had  ever  before 
been  provided  with  an  army  of  invasion  14,000  strong, 
backed  at  its  sea-base  by  a  fleet  of  thirty-six  ships  carry- 
ing over  8,000  seamen  and  marines.  Pakenham's  army 
exceeded  in  numbers  the  whole  American  force  actually 
under  arms  south  of  the  Potomac  and  Ohio  Rivers;  and 
it  outnumbered  the  total  force  that  by  any  possibility 
could  be  assembled  to  oppose  it,  face  to  face,  by  nearly 
three  to  one.  The  fleet  of  Admiral  Cochrane,  in  available 
ships  of  all  rates  and  in  the  number  of  seamen  and 
marines  effective,  exceeded  the  entire  regular  navy  of 
the  United  States. 

The  soldiers  were  those  who  had  conquered  Napoleon. 
The  sailors  were  those  who  had  expelled  from  the  ocean 
every  European  flag.  Yet  General  Pakenham's  14,000 
British  veterans  were  repulsed  by  Jackson's  5,000  Amer- 
ican volunteers;  and  Cochrane's  grand  fleet  met  no  more 
formidable  adversary  on  its  own  element  than  Ap  Cates- 
by  Jones's  five  little  gun-boats  in  Lake  Borgne. 

But  the  errors  of  the  British  general  and  admiral  did 
not  end  with  delays  in  concentration  of  force  or  with  pro- 
crastination in  approaching  our  coast.  They  wholly  mis- 
calculated the  character  of  the  country  they  proposed  to 
invade  and  distinctly  misapprehended  the  conditions  of 
nature  to  be  encountered.  The  general  relied  to  a  very 
considerable  extent  upon  the  resources  of  the  region  to 
be  invaded  for  provisions,  for  land  transport,  and  even 
for  cavalry  and  artillery  horses.  None  could  be  found. 
The  physical  conditions  were  imperfectly  known.  No 
topographic  maps  of  the  region  existed.  No  general 
reconnaissance  whatever  was  made.  The  only  informa- 
tion General  Keane  could  gather  upon  which  to  base  his 
Vol.  II.— 5 


66        HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

selection  of  a  landing-place  and  route  of  operations  was 
that  derived  from  spies  belonging  to  the  Spanish  popu- 
lation or  from  members  of  Lafitte's  Baratarian  colony. 
The  Spaniards  were  ignorant.  The  Baratarians,  whose 
fealty  to  the  American  cause  soon  afterward  became 
apparent,  systematically  deceived  the  British  general. 

Whether  Pakenham,  had  he  been  in  command  on  the 
first  landing,  would  have  adopted  the  same  general  plan 
that  Keane  did,  may  be  doubted.  General  Jackson  al- 
ways believed  that  if  Pakenham  had  been  there  at  the 
beginning,  he  would  have  approached  the  city  by  way  of 
Lake  Pontchartrain  instead  of  the  Bienvenue  route.  The 
Pontchartrain  approach  would  have  given  him  water- 
carriage  to  a  point  within  five  miles  from  the  city,  in 
its  left  rear,  and  a  good,  dry  road  leading  to  the  town 
from  Fort  St.  John.  General  Jackson  would  have  se- 
lected that  approach  had  he  been  attacking  instead  of 
defending  New  Orleans.  However,  it  is  hardly  worth 
while  to  discuss  these  "ifs."  When  General  Pakenham 
reached  the  scene  the  die  had  already  been  cast  for  him 
by  Keane,  and  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  make  the  best 
of  it* 

Much  had  been  expected  from  the  fleet,  but  it  could 
do  nothing  more  than  operate  by  boat  expeditions  and 

*  When  Lafayette  visited  this  country  in  i824-'25  he  was  General  Jack- 
son's guest  at  Nashville.  Colonel  Charles  Dupin,  a  French  military  writer 
of  that  period  (author  of  The  Armed  Strength  of  Europe,  Napoleon's 
Logistics  and  other  works),  says  that  Lafayette  and  Jackson  discussed  the 
Louisiana  campaign  exhaustively.  The  General  informed  his  illustrious 
guest  that  when  Pakenham  lay  inert  for  a  whole  week  after  the  abortive 
artillery  duel  of  January  tst,  he  believed  that  it  meant  a  determination  to 
withdraw  from  the  Chalmette  front  and  move  upon  the  city  by  the  northern 
or  Pontchartrain  approach.  Lafayette  agreed  with  Jackson  that  this  was 
the  unavoidable  inference  and  expressed  astonishment  that  it  was  not  done. 


AFTER   THE    GREAT   VICTORY  67 

land  its  marines  to  serve  with  the  army.    The  prevailing 
northerly  winds  prevented  it  from  coming  up  the  river, 
and  even  had  that  obstacle  been  removed,  none  of  the 
line-of-battle   ships   or   larger   frigates   could  have   got 
through  the  passes  by  reason  of  their  deep  draught.    To 
send  ships  of  the  line  on  an  expedition  against  New  Or- 
leans was  therefore  a  waste  of  naval  strength  from  any 
point  of  view.     They  could  not  operate  in  concert  with 
the  land  forces  and  there  was  no  need  of  an  imposing 
sea-force  to  confront  any  naval  armament  the  United 
States  then  possessed.    But  most  absurd  of  all  the  Brit- 
ish blunders  was  the  extravagant  overrating  of  their 
adversary  in  numbers  and  equipment.     This  was  un- 
questionably the  error  that  paralyzed  all  their  earlier 
operations.     For  that   impression  they-or  perhaps   it 
would  be  quite  as  accurate  to  say  the  Americans-were 
indebted  to  the  Baratarian  smugglers.     The  British  be- 
lieved these  freebooters  implicitly.     They  knew  that  the 
American  government  had  made  war  on  the  smugglers, 
denounced  them  as  outlaws  and  pirates,  and  had  severa 
of  them  under  indictment  in  prison  without  bail  and 
awaiting  trial  at  the  very  time  of  the  British  expedition. 
But  the  Baratarians  were  Frenchmen ;  and  not  even  per- 
secution-as  they  viewed  it-at  the  hands  of  the  Amer- 
icans could  wean  them  from  the  inveterate  hatred  they 
bore  by  heritage  toward  England  and  the  English. 

Under  all  these  conditions  the  British  invasion  of 
Louisiana  began  with  blundering  caution,  and  then,  when 
the  Americans  had,  by  means  of  it,  found  time  to  perfect 
their  defences,  their  assailants  turned  suddenly  to  the 
other  extreme  of  blundering  audacity  which  proved 
suicidal. 


68         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

So  far  as  concerned  actual  combat,  the  night-battle 
of  December  23d  was  the  real  crisis  in  the  defence  of 
New  Orleans  and  the  Louisiana  Purchase.  The  8th 
of  January  was  its  logical  sequel,  its  necessary  culmina- 
tion. To  any  man  who  has  had  experience  in  warfare, 
the  first  impressions  produced  by  visual  survey  of  the 
battle-field  of  January  8th  are  the  utter  simplicity  of 
plan,  the  lack  of  manoeuvre  and  the  narrow  limitations 
of  the  combat  itself. 

A  perfectly  flat  plain,  destitute  of  cover  and  free  from 
obstruction  to  attacking  troops.  This  plain  narrowed  to 
less  than  a  mile  of  practicable  front.  Its  flanks  impreg- 
nably  defended  by  a  deep,  wide  river  on  one  side  and 
an  impassable  swamp  on  the  other.  The  defence  a 
straight  line  of  heavy  breastwork  manned  by  a  small 
but  handy  and  compact  force  of  the  most  perfect  marks- 
men the  world  ever  saw.  The  assailing  force  compelled 
to  move  in  the  face  of  a  fire  that  no  troops  could  endure. 
The  assailed,  practically  relieved  from  peril,  free  to  em- 
ploy their  skill  to  the  utmost,  and  to  convert  repulse  into 
downright  butchery.  No  similar  conditions  had  ever 
existed  elsewhere  on  so  large  a  scale,  and  in  all  proba- 
bility never  will  exist  again  anywhere.  On  the  whole, 
the  Louisiana  campaign  was  a  phenomenal  blunder  and 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans  a  miracle  of  misfortune  on 
the  British  side.  Viewed  in  the  cold  blood  of  the  pro- 
fessional soldier  and  stripped  of  all  enthusiasm,  about 
all  that  need  be  said  of  General  Jackson's  share  in  the 
achievement  is  that  he  was  shrewd  enough  to  gain  the 
utmost  profit  from  every  blunder  of  the  enemy  and  brave 
enough  to  minimize  to  the  last  degree  every  weakness 
of  his  own.     No  other  general  ever  had  such  an  oppor- 


AFTER    THE    GREAT    VICTORY  69 

tunity.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  other  general  that  ever 
lived— even  Napoleon— could  have  improved  such  oppor- 
tunity so  well.  And  the  fate  of  General  Pakenham  was 
the  most  striking  exemplification  modern  history  affords 
of  the  truth  of  the  classic  aphorism :  ''Quern  viilt  perdere 
Jupiter  prius  dementat." 


CHAPTER    III 

BRITISH    DESIGNS   IN    LOUISIANA 

In  conclusion  of  the  last  chapter  we  said  that  General 
Jackson's  army  of  New  Orleans  ''saved  the  Louisiana 
Purchase."  Few  people  of  all  the  millions  who  in  this 
year  of  grace,  1904,  celebrate  the  centenary  of  that  colos- 
sal transaction  between  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  Thomas 
Jefferson,  realize  the  significance  of  those  words.  To 
most  people  in  the  Twentieth  Century  the  memory  of 
New  Orleans  is  that  of  glorious  misfortune;  a  great 
victory  gained  after  peace  had  been  made;  a  brilliant 
page  of  history  stained  with  blood  shed  in  vain.  Com- 
mon— almost  universal — as  that  view  may  be,  there 
never  was  a  more  perfect  fallacy.  Viewed  in  the  light 
of  its  actual  influence  upon  the  map  of  North  America 
and  the  fortunes  of  this  Republic,  it  was  the  most  im- 
portant battle  ever  fought  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States.  It  was,  indeed,  fought  after  the 
war  of  18 1 2  was  over.  On  the  face  of  things,  that  fact 
had  the  aspect  of  a  misfortune.  But  that  was  really 
a  minor  consideration. 

The  real,  vast,  enduring  value  of  the  battle  of  New 
Orleans  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  prevented  another  war. 

In  foregoing  pages  we  have  from  time  to  time  men- 
tioned the  Louisiana  campaign  of  1814-'!  5  as  an  at- 
tempt at  territorial  conquest  with  a  view  to  permanent 

70 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       71 

occupation  by  the  forces  of  Great  Britain.  But  thus  far 
we  have  adduced  no  positive  evidence.  Here  we  shall 
endeavor  to  establish  the  fact. 

At  the  outset  it  is  of  official  history  *  that  the  con- 
centration of  land  and  naval  forces  at  Negril  Bay,  Jamai- 
ca, was  not  ordered  until  after  the  peace  commissioners 
had  assembled  at  Ghent.  The  War  Office  minute  em- 
bodying the  order  to  General  Pakenham  "to  proceed  to 
Plymouth  and  embark  there  for  Louisiana  to  assume 
command  of  the  Forces  operating  for  the  reduction  of 
that  Province''  was  dated  November  4,  18 14.  The 
peace  commission  had  then  assembled  at  Ghent.  Why 
did  the  British  Cabinet,  in  its  order  to  General  Paken- 
ham, describe  Louisiana  as  a  ''Province"?  The  fact 
that  it  was  a  State  of  the  American  Union  was  as  well 
known  to  the  British  Government  as  to  our  own.  Was 
New  York  or  Ohio  or  Pennsylvania  ever  described  in 
any  British  official  document  of  that  period  as  "a  Prov- 
ince"? Twenty  days  after  the  date  of  General  Paken- 
ham's  final  order  to  "embark  at  Plymouth,  etc.,"  the 
combined  armament  designed  for  "the  reduction  of  the 
Province  of  Louisiana"  rendezvoused  at  Negril  Bay, 
Jamaica.  These  coincidences  at  such  wide  distances 
could  not  have  been  fortuitous. 

Twenty-two  days  after  the  date  of  Pakenham's  orders 
the  combined  armament  set  sail  for  the  coast  of  Louis- 
iana. The  fleet  carried  more  than  an  army.  The  Nar- 
ratives of  The  Subaltern  and  Captain  Cooke,  reputable 
officers  of  the  Eighty-fifth  and  Forty-third  Light  In- 
fantry respectively,  tell  us  that  there  was  on  board  the 
fleet  "a  complete  civil  government  staff"  to  be  installed 

*  See  Bathurst  Papers,  State  Paper  Office,  London. 


72         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

in  place  of  the  State  government  of  Louisiana  at  the 
moment  of  occupation.  One  of  them,  with  a  spice  of 
humor,  informs  us  that  one  member  of  this  "civil  govern- 
ment staff"  was  "a  worthy  colonial  official  whose  con- 
fidence in  the  success  of  the  expedition  led  him  to  resign 
the  comfortable  position  of  Collector  of  Barbadoes  to 
take  the  larger  and  more  lucrative  post  of  Collector  for 
the  (to-be)  Crown  Colony  of  Louisiana."  And  he  even 
imparts  to  us  the  interesting  particular  that  "this  worthy 
official  was  accompanied  by  his  family,  consisting  of  five 
attractive  and  marriageable  daughters,  who,  during  the 
somewhat  protracted  voyage,  made  no  secret  of  their 
aspirations  to  leadership  in  the  refined  and  aristocratic 
society  of  New  Orleans." 

"They  were  fine  girls,"  says  the  gallant  captain, 
"whose  native  charms  were  made  bewitching  by  that 
gentle  languor  which  life  in  a  tropical  clime  never  fails 
to  bestow  upon  young  women  of  English  birth;  and  the 
two  younger  ladies — still  in  their  teens — were  natives 
of  sunny  Barbadoes  itself."  It  is  easy  to  imagine  how 
the  natural  chivalry  of  an  officer,  bronzed  and  seasoned 
in  the  harsh  school  of  the  Iron  Duke's  Peninsular  Cam- 
paigns, must  have  been  quickened  at  the  prospect  of 
promoting  the  social  aspirations  of  such  a  houseful  of 
beauty  and  "tropical  languor." 

The  "civil  government  stafY"  for  the  "Province  of 
Louisiana"  which  Admiral  Cochrane's  fleet  brought 
along  consisted  of  a  lieutenant-governor,  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Elwood,  transferred  from  Trinidad ;  a  collector  of  cus- 
toms, already  mentioned,  from  Barbadoes ;  an  attorney- 
general,  an  admiralty  judge  and  a  secretary  for  the  col- 
ony sent  from  England  direct ;  with  a  "superintendent 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       73 

of  Indian  affairs,"  Mr.  Dockstadter,  transferred  from 
Upper  Canada.* 

The  British  Government  had  also  arranged  with 
Spain  for  free  trade  with  the  Indians  in  all  Spanish 
possessions  north  of  the  Rio  Grande!  Spain,  of  course, 
was  then  completely  under  the  feet  of  England,  in  the 
Southwest  as  well  as  in  Florida. 

Besides  his  general  orders  at  Plymouth,  Pakenham 
brought  with  him  a  proclamation  approved  by  the  Home 
Government  or  Colonial  Office.  This  proclamation  was 
to  be  published  as  soon  as  the  British  army  should  oc- 
cupy New  Orleans.  It  promised  protection  to  every- 
body, general  amnesty  to  all  previously  engaged  in  hos- 
tilities, and  proclaimed  the  sovereignty  of  England,  in 
behalf  of  Spain,  over  "all  the  territory  fraudulently 
conveyed  by  Bonaparte  to  the  United  States." 

It  denied  the  validity  of  the  secret  treaty  by  which 
Spain  receded  Louisiana  to  France  in  1800.  It  denied 
Bonaparte's  right  to  act  for  France  in  1803.  And  finally, 
it  "denounced  the  pretensions  of  the  United  States  to 
sovereignty  under  the  alleged  purchase  from  Bonaparte." 

That  proclamation  was  in  printed  form  at  British 
head-quarters  the  night  before  the  battle,  and  its  con- 
tents were  well  known  to  many  British  officers.  The 
night  after  the  battle  it  disappeared.  Every  copy  of  it 
was  burned! 

All  this  evidence  was  obtained  from  British  prisoners 
taken  in  the  battle  of  January  8th.  But  it  lacked  one 
link  to  make  the  chain  perfect.     That  was  evidence  of 

*  This  eminent  Indian  administrator  was  a  son  of  the  notorious  Colonel 
Dockstadter,  of  Tory  fame  in  the  Revolutionary  annals  of  the  Mohawk 
Valley. 


74         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

specific  design  and  fixed  policy  on  the  part  of  the  British 
Government.*  In  the  absence  of  such  evidence  the  Cab- 
inet of  St.  James  might,  in  emergency,  declare  that  the 
scheme  of  a  ''crown  colony"  and  the  proclamation  itself 
were  the  acts  of  General  Pakenham — to  be  approved  if 
he  succeeded  or  disavowed  if  he  failed.  The  needed 
link  was  supplied  long  afterward.  But  before  proceed- 
ing to  consider  it,  either  as  to  its  origin  or  its  bearing 
upon  the  facts  just  set  forth,  let  us  briefly  mark  the 
evidence  of  events,  as  gleaned  from  captured  papers  and 
captive  ofiicers  and  soldiers : 

The  expedition  was  to  sail,  according  to  plan,  from 
Jamaica  the  4th  of  November,  to  land  in  Louisiana  not 
later  than  the  20th.  Had  that  part  of  the  plan  been 
carried  out,  they  would  have  found  no  opposition  except 
the  handful  of  regulars  and  the  Louisiana  militia — less 
than  1,600  all  told — and  not  even  a  breastwork  to  bar 
the  way  of  10,000  British  veterans.  But,  delayed  by 
the  non-arrival  of  Keane's  brigade  from  Plymouth,  Eng- 
land, they  did  not  sail  until  the  24th  and  26th  of  No- 
vember. Even  at  that,  they  were  delayed  a  week  by 
contrary  w^inds  in  the  Gulf  and  did  not  get  fairly  afoot 
within  striking  distance  of  New  Orleans  until  December 
23d.  Meantime  Coffee's  Tennesseeans  and  Hinds's 
Mississippians  had  arrived — about  700  strong.  The  next 
day  Carroll's  Tennesseeans  came — with  strength  of 
nearly  a  thousand,  and  of  fine  quality.  With  these  forces 
General  Jackson  w^as  able  to  hold  them  at  bay  until  the 

*  This  aspect  of  the  Louisiana  campaign,  for  some  unexplained  reason, 
seems  to  have  been  either  overlooked  or  studiously  ignored  by  American 
writers.  Benton  refers  to  it  more  pointedly  than  any  other  ;  but  he  says 
only  that  if  the  British  had  taken  New  Orleans,  another  war  would  have 
been  necessary  to  expel  them  from  the  Mississippi  Valley. 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       75 

Kentuckians  could  get  there,  from  the  4th  to  the  7th 
of  January.  Of  the  latter,  only  about  1,200  or  1,400 
were    immediately    effective,    but    they    proved    to    be 

enough. 

The  British  plenipotentiaries  at  Ghent  knew  all  about 
these  plans,  and  gauged  their  ^'diplomacy"  according  to 
them,  supposing  they  would  be  executed  very  nearly  to 
the  letter.  On  this  basis  Mr.  Goulburn  and  his  colleagues, 
when  they  signed  the  treaty  at  Ghent,  December  24th, 
had  every  reason  to  believe  that  Pakenham's  army  was 
already  in  full  possession  of  New  Orleans  and  that  the 
''Crown  Colony  of  Louisiana"  was  firmly  established. 

It  was  for  this  that  they  had  been  "pettifogging  for 
time,"  as  lawyers  say,  ever  since  the  25th  of  October. 
The  British  plenipotentiaries  did  their  duty  well,  as  they 
understood  it.     And  their  belated  army  did  its  duty  as 
well    as    it    could    under    the    distressing    conditions    it 
unexpectedly  encountered.     So  much  for  British  plans. 
The  final  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence  was  supplied 
by  General  Jackson  himself.     In  the  fall  of   1875  the 
author,  then  a  staff  correspondent  of  the  Missouri  Re- 
publican, visited  Governor  William  Allen,  of  Ohio,  at 
his  farm  near  Chillicothe.     During  the  visit,  which  was 
of  three  days'  duration,  the  venerable  statesman's  con- 
versation—when   not    upon    agricultural    subjects— was 
mainly  reminiscences  of  his  earlier  public  life.     All  was 
interesting;  some  of  it  historically  valuable,  particularly 
those  parts  relating  to  the  British  invasion  of  Louisiana 
and    the    Northwest    Boundary    question— which    latter 
topic  may  be  brought  forward  in  its  appropriate  place. 

What  Governor  Allen  said  on  the  former  subject  we 
reproduce  here,  exactly  as  it  was  printed  in  1875 : 


76         HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

Near  the  end  of  Gerteral  Jackson's  second  administration, 
and  shortly  after  the  admission  of  Arkansas  to  the  Union, 
I,  being  Senator-elect  from  Ohio,  went  to  Washington  to  take 
the  seat  on  March  4th. 

General  Jackson — he  always  preferred  to  be  called  General 
rather  than  ]\Ir.  President,  and  so  we  always  addressed  him 
by  his  military  title — General  Jackson  invited  me  to  lunch  with 
him.  No  sooner  were  we  seated  than  he  said :  "Mr.  Allen,  let 
us  take  a  little  drink  to  the. new  star  in  the  flag — Arkansas!" 
This  ceremony  being  duly  observed  the  general  said :  "Allen, 
if  there  had  been  disaster  instead  of  victory  at  New  Orleans, 
there  never  would  have  been  a  State  of  Arkansas." 

This,  of  course,  interested  me,  and  I  asked :  "Why  do  you 
say  that.  General?" 

Then  he  said  that  if  Pakenham  had  taken  New  Orleans, 
the  British  would  have  claimed  and  held  the  whole  Louisiana 
Purchase.  But  I  said :  "You  know,  General  Jackson,  that  the 
treaty  of  Ghent,  which  had  been  signed  fifteen  days  before  the 
battle,  provided  for  restoration  of  .all  territory,  places  and  pos- 
sessions taken  by  either  nation  from  the  other  during  the  war, 
with  certain  unimportant  exceptions." 

"Yes,  of  course,"  he  replied.  "But  the  minutes  of  the  con- 
ference at  Ghent  as  kept  by  Mr.  Gallatin  represent  the  British 
Commissioners  as  declaring  in  exact  words : 

"  'We  do  not  admit  Bonaparte's  construction  of  the  law  of 
nations.  We  cannot  accept  it  in  relation  to  any  subject-matter 
before  us.' 

"At  that  moment,"  pursued  General  Jackson,  "none  of  our 
commissioners  knew  what  the  real  meaning  of  these  words  was. 
When  they  were  uttered,  the  British  commissioners  knew  that 
Pakenham's  expedition  had  been  decided  on.  Our  commission- 
ers did  not  know  it.  Now,  since  I  have  been  Chief  Magistrate 
I  have  learned  from  diplomatic  sources  of  the  most  unquestion- 
able authority  that  the  British  Ministry  did  not  intend  the  treaty 
of  Ghent  to  apply  to  the  Louisiana  Purchase  at  all.  The  whole 
corporation  of  them  from  1803  to  1815 — Pitt,  the  Duke  of  Port- 
land, Grenville,  Perceval,  Lord  Liverpool  and  Castlereagh — 
denied  the  legal  right  of  Napoleon  to  sell  Louisiana  to  us,  and 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       77 

they  held,  therefore,  that  we  had  no  right  to  that  territory. 
So  you  see,  Allen,  that  the  words  of  Mr.  Goulburn  on  behalf 
of  the  British  commissioners,  which  I  have  quoted  to  you  from 
Albert  Gallatin's  minutes  of  the  conference,  had  a  far  deeper 
significance  than  our  commissioners  could  penetrate.  Those 
words  were  meant  to  lay  the  foundation  for  a  claim  on  the 
Louisiana  Purchase  entirely  external  to  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  of  Ghent.  And  in  that  way  the  British  Government  was 
signing  a  treaty  with  one  hand  in  front  while  with  the  other 
hand  behind  its  back  it  was  despatching  Pakenham's  army  to 
seize  the  fairest  of  our  possessions. 

"You  can  also  see,  my  dear  William,"  said  the  old  General, 
waxing  warm  (having  once  or  twice  more  during  the  lunch- 
eon toasted  the  new  star),  "you  can  also  see  what  an  awful 
mess  such  a  situation  would  have  been  if  the  British  programme 
had  been  carried  out  in  full.  But  Providence  willed  other- 
wise. All  the  tangled  web  that  the  cunning  of  English  diplo- 
mats could  weave  around  our  unsuspecting  commissioners  at 
Ghent  was  torn  to  pieces  and  soaked  with  British  blood  in 
half  an  hour  at  New  Orleans  by  the  never-missing  rifles  of 
my  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  pioneers.  And  that  ended  it. 
British  diplomacy  could  do  wonders,  but  it  couldn't  provide 
against  such  a  contingency  as  that.  The  British  commission- 
ers could  throw  sand  in  the  eyes  of  ours  at  Ghent,  but  they 
couldn't  help  the  cold  lead  that  my  riflemen  sprinkled  in  the 
faces  of  their  soldiers  at  New  Orleans.  Now,  Allen,  you  have 
the  whole  story.  Now  you  know  why  Arkansas  was  saved  at 
New   Orleans.     Let's  take   another  little   one." 

*To  this  recital,  which  may  almost  be  termed  'offi- 
cial,' "  pursued  Governor  Allen,  "the  General  added 
that,  while  yet  he  was  at  New  Orleans  with  his  army, 
after  the  battle,  he  learned  from  captured  British  officers 
and  from  other  sources  that  General  Pakenham  was 
authorized  and  prepared  to  set  up  a  British  colonial 
government  in  Louisiana,  to  embrace  the  whole  Pur- 
chase, as  soon  as  New  Orleans  should  be  taken  and  his 


78         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

(Jackson's)  force  there  captured  or  driven  away.  But 
he  said  this  information  was  mainly  circumstantial,  and 
as  such  lacked  the  kind  of  confirmation  required  to  give 
it  historical  character.  That  kind  of  confirmation,  he 
said,  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  his  investiga- 
tion of  the  Northwest  Boundary  question  soon  after  he 
became  our  Minister  to  England.  And  the  General  said 
in  conclusion : 

"  '1  remarked  that  our  commissioners  did  not  know^ 
the  significance  of  Mr.  Goulburn's  words.  That  is  true. 
But  they  all  suspected  an  ulterior  design,  though  they 
could  not  fathom  it — all  except  Mr.  Adams.  He  sus- 
pected nothing.  He  believed  everything  the  British  com- 
missioners told  him  and  he  would  get  angry  at  anyone 
who  might  venture  to  express  a  doubt  as  to  their  perfect 
frankness  and  complete  good  faith.'  " 

\Ye  are  aware  that  this  chapter  of  history  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  school-books.  But,  taking  the  whole  web 
and  woof  together,  it  seems  irrefragable.  At  all  events, 
there  is  a  flavor  about  it  calculated  to  produce  the  im- 
pression that  if  New  Orleans  had  been  a  British  victory 
the  American  people  might  not  now  be  celebrating  the 
centenary  of  the  Purchase  of  Louisiana. 

The  extent  to  which  these  facts  were  known  at  the 
time  and  on  the  spot  may  be  inferred  from  a  speech 
made  by  one  of  Jackson's  young  officers  who  could  speak 
French,   Captain   Henry  Garland,*   at  a  banquet  given 

*  Captain  Henry  Garland  was  born  at  Nantes,  France,  in  1783.  His 
father,  a  merchant  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  was  for  many  years  commercial 
agent  in  France  for  American  importing  houses.  He  did  not  return  to 
the  United  States  until  1799  or  1800.  He  received  all  his  education  in 
French  schools  and  of  course  in  the  French  language.  On  his  arrival  in 
this  country  he  was  sent  to  William  and  Mary  College,  but  did  not  graduate 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       79 

by  the  officers  of  the  Louisiana  mihtia  to  those  of  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee  and  Mississippi  and  the  regulars,  on 
the  eve  of  the  disbandment  of  Jackson's  army.  This 
officer  had  been  selected  by  his  comrades  to  respond  in 
French  on  their  behalf. 

The  guests  were  welcomed  on  behalf  of  the  Creole 
hosts  and  hostesses  by  Vicar-General  the  Most  Reverend 
Abbe  Dubourg,  Bishop  of  Louisiana,  who  made  a  brief 
address  of  welcome,  first  in  English  and  then  in  French. 
In  conclusion,  the  Abbe  expressed  sorrow  that  such  an 
awful  battle  should  have  been  fought  and  so  many  souls 
sent  unprepared  into  the  presence  of  the  Creator  two 
weeks  after  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed  on  the 
other  side  of  the  ocean. 

This  remark  changed  the  whole  character  of  Captain 
Garland's  reply.  He  spoke  in  French,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  a  translation : 

You  must  not  expect  eloquence  from  me  because  I  do  not 
pretend  to  be  an  orator.  But  this  occasion,  these  bright  eyes, 
these  beautiful  faces,  would  inspire  the  dumb  to  speak.  Every 
man  who  fought  down  yonder  the  8th  of  January  will  rejoice 
with  his  last  breath  that  Almighty  God,  in  His  Divine  Provi- 
dence, gave  him  two  sacred  privileges :     First,  the  privilege 

there.  He  afterward  went  to  Tennessee,  where  his  uncle  was  employed  as  a 
surveyor  and  he  followed  that  profession  himself  until  the  war  of  1812,  when 
he  volunteered  in  Coffee's  mounted  riflemen,  serving  with  distinction  in 
the  Creek  war,  in  the  Florida  campaign  and  at  New  Orleans.  Some  time 
after  the  war  of  181 2  he  was  employed  as  a  surveyor  of  public  lands  in 
Arkansas  and  Mississippi.  One  of  his  collateral  descendants,  Hon.  Augustus 
H.  Garland,  was  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States.  Captain  Garland 
is  described  by  his  contemporaries  as  a  remarkably  handsome  man  and  of 
unusual  mental  endownnent.  He  declined  an  appointment  in  the  regular 
army  and  afterward  a  nomination  to  Congress.  His  last  public  service  of 
note  was  in  connection  with  running  the  boundaries  of  the  reservations  in  the 
Indian  Territory  in  i830-'3i-'32. 


8o         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

of  defending  the  pure  and  sweet  womanhood  of  Louisiana; 
and,  second,  the  privilege  of  repulsing  from  our  soil,  in  utter 
wreck  and  dismal  ruin,  the  most  treacherous  and  cowardly 
invasion  ever  planned  or  attempted  by  a  Power  that  pretends 
to  be  civilized  ! 

The  British  Cabinet  believed  that  Louisiana  was  defenceless. 
There  is  a  graveyard  down  yonder  that  the  simple  colored  peo- 
ple never  go  near  at  night  and  that  they  call  ''God's  Acre." 
That  graveyard  tells  better  than  words  can,  the  error  of  the 
British  Cabinet.  They  say  "dead  men  tell  no  tales."  But 
"God's  Acre"  down  yonder  tells  more  tales  of  English  arrogance 
and  folly  than  could  be  told  by  all  the  orators  from  Demos- 
thenes to  our  times  ! 

The  most  Reverend  Prelate  in  his  otherwise  well-chosen 
remarks  suggested  that  it  was  a  pity  that  such  an  awful  battle 
should  have  been  fought  after  the  treaty  was  signed  across  the 
wide  water.  I  do  not  agree  with  him.  It  needed  that  battle 
to  make  the  treaty  good.  It  made  no  difference  when  the 
treaty  was  signed.  Without  that  battle  it  must  have  been 
waste  paper ! 

The  treaty  as  written  did  not  mean  anything.  It  says  that 
the  territorial  status  quo  ante  belluin  shall  be  observed.  But 
the  British  Cabinet  held  'Tarriere-pensee"  about  that.  They 
never  admitted  Napoleon's  right  to  convey  Louisiana  to  us 
through  President  Jefferson.  They  did  not  mean  to  include 
the  Louisiana  Purchase  in  the  territorial  status  quo  ante  helium! 

You  might  as  well  look  for  wool  on  a  duck's  back  as  for 
honor  in  a  British  Cabinet ! 

The  treaty  signed  in  ink  the  24th  of  December  was  a  cheat. 
But  the  treaty  that  the  pioneers  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee 
punctuated  with  rifle-bullets  the  8th  of  January  will  stand. 
The  English  diplomats  at  Ghent  held,  as  I  have  said,  "I'arriere- 
pensee"  !  But  the  British  soldiers  who  lay  down  to  die  in  front 
of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  the  8th  of  January  on  Chalmette 
plain  were  sincere  and  honest.  It  was  in  their  life-blood  that 
the  real  treaty  was  written ;  not  in  the  ink  of  Ghent. 

The  British  plan  of  subjugation  was  complete.     Soon  after 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       8i 

the  battle  it  was  learned  that  General  Pakenham  had  a  proc- 
lamation written,  signed  and  ready  to  be  promulgated  the 
moment  his  army  should  enter  the  city.  This  proclamation 
denied  the  right  of  Napoleon  to  sell  Louisiana,  denounced  the 
pretensions  of  the  United  States  to  its  sovereignty,  declared 
that  Spain,  the  rightful  possessor,  was  incapable  of  maintain- 
ing her  territorial  rights  and,  finally,  asserted  a  provisional 
occupation  by  the  British  forces  as  a  virtual  protectorate  in 
behalf  of  the  Spanish  crown.  The  night  after  the  battle  this 
proclamation  was  burned.  It  may  have  been  used  to  illuminate 
the  scene  where  the  corpse  of  its  author  was  being  prepared 
for  shipment  to  England  in  a  cask  of  rum.* 

Let  us  pass  now  to  another  branch  of  the  subject.  It  is 
commonly  known  that,  the  night  of  January  7th,  a  council  of 
war  was  held  in  the  British  camp.  It  is  also  known  to  many 
that,  on  that  occasion,  Major-General  Sir  Samuel  Gibbs  spoke 
of  General  Jackson's  army  as  a  ''backwoods  rabble."  He  was 
right.  That's  what  we  are — from  the  point  of  view  of  a  British 
regular.  We  are  "backwoodsmen,"  because  we  were  born  and 
raised  in  little  log-cabins  all  along  our  great  frontier.  The 
mothers  who  gave  us  milk,  made  their  own  clothes  and  ours, 
too,  of  homespun  or  of  buckskin.  As  soon  as  we  could  lift 
a  rifle  we  had  to  hunt  our  meat  in  the  woods.  Yes,  we  are 
"backwoodsmen."  And  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  British 
regular,  we  are  a  "rabble"  too.  That  is,  we  are  not  soldiers 
in  the  regular  sense  of  the  term.  We  are  not  enlisted;  we 
don't  get  any  pay.     We  are  simply  assembled,   as   volunteers, 

*  The  bodies  of  Generals  Pakenham  and  Gibbs  were  disembowelled, 
placed  in  hogsheads  of  rum,  in  lieu  of  an  embalming  process,  and  sent  to 
England  in  the  same  ship  that  bore  the  despatches  of  General  Lambert  and 
Admiral  Cochrane  announcing  the  result  of  the  battle  of  January  8th. 
It  is  stated  in  the  memorial  of  Sir  Samuel  Gibbs,  heretofore  quoted,  that 
"  the  bodies  arrived  in  a  state  of  perfect  preservation."  This  ghastly  freight 
and  these  dismal  tidings  were  carried  by  the  Nymphe,  36  gun  frigate. 
It  has  been  stated  on  British  authority  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington  would 
not  believe  the  news — which  he  first  saw  in  the  newspapers — until  he  saw 
the  official  confirmation  and  the  remains  of  his  brother-in-law  General 
Pakenham. 

Vol.  H.— 6 


82  HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

to  defend  our  country.  We  have  a  kind  of  organization,  it  is 
true;  but  it  is  as  independent  companies,  composed  of  neigh- 
bors, and  our  officers  are  simply  those  men  whose  characters 
and  experience  point  them  out  as  natural  leaders.  In  one 
word,  we  have  no  regulations,  except  those  of  common-sense; 
no  discipline  except  that  of  common  consent ;  no  mastery,  one 
over  the  other,  except  that  of  manhood  !  Such  are  the  men 
who  rallied  from  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  when  Andrew  Jack- 
son called.     They  are  just  such  men  as  he  is,  every  one  ! 

Yes,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  they  are  a  "backwoods  rabble"  ! 
They  met,  say,  three  times  their  number  of  soldiers  who  were 
the  Pride  of  England !  And  the  "backwoods  rabble"  laid  that 
"Pride  of  England"  low ! 

Nearly  three  months  have  elapsed  since  the  battle.  I  have 
been  among  these  men — this  rabble — all  that  time.  No  boast 
has  been  heard  from  one  of  them.  They  are  not  the  kind  of 
men  that  glorify  themselves.  They  are  content  to  leave  their 
fame  to  posterity.  It  will  be  a  long  time  before  their  fame 
can  reach  its  full  growth.  It  is  more  than  two  thousand  years 
since  Leonidas  and  his  Spartans  stood  in  Thermopylae  and 
fought  in  the  shade  of  Persian  javelins.  But  their  fame  has 
not  yet  got  its  growth.  So  it  may  be  two  thousand  years 
before  the  fame  of  Jackson's  men  will  have  reached  full  stature. 
Besides,  there  is  a  material  difference  in  the  two  histories. 
Leonidas  and  his  Spartans  died  at  Thermopylae.  But  Jackson 
and  his  riflemen  are  alive  at  New  Orleans  ! 

And  now  just  one  word  more:  Most  people  say  that  our 
American  Republic  was  born  the  Fourth  day  of  July,  1776,  at 
Philadelphia.  This  is  not  true.  It  was  only  begotten  then. 
It  was  born  when  Burgoyne  surrendered  at  Saratoga.  It  was 
baptized  when  Cornwallis  yielded  at  Yorktown.  But  it  was 
never  confirmed,  as  they  say  in  the  religion  of  the  Holy  Saviour, 
until  the  8th  of  last  January ! 

That  day  saw  not  merely  the  repulse  and  destruction  of  a 
British  army,  but  it  taught  the  whole  world  a  lesson  never  to 
be  forgot.  It  needs  not  the  gift  of  prophecy  to  foresee  that 
the  battle  fought  by  Andrew  Jackson  and  his  "backwoods  rab- 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       83 

ble"  there  did  more  than  repulse  cowardly  and  treacherous 
invasion.  It  taught  to  all  the  princes  and  kings  and  emperors 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  that  they  must  let  our  young  Republic 
alone ! 

It  is  a  common  theory  that  the  soldiers  of  General 
Pakenham's  army  believed  that  their  officers  would  al- 
low them  to  sack  New  Orleans  as  they  had  ravaged 
several  towns  in  Spain  taken  by  storm.     Even  before 
the  8th  of  January,  it  was  freely  rumored  in  Jackson's 
camp  that  the  "watchword"  of  the  British  soldiers  was 
"Booty   and   Beauty."      We   have   never   believed   this. 
At  all  events,  we  do  not  believe  that  any  such  incentive 
was  sanctioned  by  any  British  officer.     But  so  much  was 
said  about  it  in  the  public  prints  for  nearly  a  score  of 
years  after  the  battle  that,  in  1833,  the  surviving  officers 
of  rank  who  had  been  with  the  British  army  at  New 
Orleans  deemed  it  proper  to  publish  in  the  London  Times 
the  following  statement: 

We,  the  undersigned,  serving  in  that  army  and  actually  pres- 
ent and  through  whom  all  orders  to  the  troops  were  promul- 
gated, do,  in  justice  to  the  memory  of  that  distinguished  officer 
who  commanded  and  led  the  attack,  the  whole  tenor  of  whose 
life  was  marked  by  manliness  of  purpose  and  integrity  of  view, 
most  unequivocally  deny  that  any  such  promise  (of  plunder) 
was  ever  held  out  to  the  army  or  that  the  watchword  asserted 
to  have  been  given  out  was  ever  issued.     .     .     . 

[Signed  by] 

John  Keane,  General. 
John  Lambert,  Lieutenant-General. 
W.  Thornton,  Major-General. 
Edward  Blakeney,  Major-General. 
Alex.  Dickson,  Colonel. 


84        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  evidence  to  show  that, 
whatever  might  have  been  the  humane  impulses  of  the 
British  officers,  some  of  them  doubted  their  abihty  to 
control  the  soldiers  once  let  loose  in  a  captured  city.  On 
this  point  the  witness  is  Mrs.  Edward  Livingston. 

During  her  husband's  absence  on  board  the  British 
fleet,  Mrs.  Livingston,  to  while  away  her  lonesome  days, 
gave  little  parties  and  dinners  to  the  officers  of  Jackson's 
army,  including  more  than  once  the  General  himself.  On 
Sunday,  February  12th,  her  guests  were  Captain  Gar- 
land, of  Tennessee,  Lieutenant  Wickliffe  and  Ensign 
Buell,  of  Kentucky — all  of  whom  could  speak  French — 
and  two  or  three  others,  to  meet  a  number  of  Creole 
ladies.  Suggested  by  someone,  the  conversation  turned 
upon  the  question  whether,  if  their  attack  had  been  suc- 
cessful, the  British  army  really  intended  to  sack  and 
ravage  New  Orleans  as  they  had  done  with  Ciudad 
Rodrigo,  Badajos  and  San  Sebastian  in  Spain. 

"Is  there  any  real  proof,"  asked  one  of  the  ladies, 
"that  their  watchword  was — as  has  been  said — ^Booty 
and  Beauty'?" 

"Well,"  said  Madame  Livingston,  'T  will  tell  you  my 
own  observation :  A  British  officer.  Captain — well,  you 
all  know  him — was  wounded  and  captured  in  the  battle 
of  December  23d.  I  took  him  into  my  house — this  house 
— and  nursed  him  back  to  health.  He  has  not  been  gone 
from  here  more  than  ten  days.  When  the  great  battle 
of  January  8th  began  and  there  was  mucli  doubt  as  to 
its  result,  there  was  great  fear  among  our  women  and 
girls  as  to  what  might  be  their  fate  if  the  British  army 
should  take  the  city.  Many  of  my  friends,  knowing 
that  I  had  a  British  officer  in  the  house,  clustered  about 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       85 

me  thinking  that  his  presence,  wounded  as  he  was, 
might  be  a  protection  against  the  violence  of  his  sol- 
diery At  that  moment  we  could  hear  the  roar  of  the 
cannon  and  the  savage  crashing  of  the  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky  rifles.    We  knew  not  what  the  end  might  be. 

So  I  made  bold  to  ask  Captain if  he  could  protect 

our  house  and  ourselves  in  case  his  comrades  should  take 
the  city  He  hesitated  a  moment  and  then  said :  Ladies, 
I  know  those  soldiers!  I  was  with  them  in  Spam-at 
Ciudad  Rodrigo  and  Badajos!  If  you  can  leave  this 
town  at  once,  I  advise  you  to  go!' 

"We  all  at  once  set  about  preparing  to  flee.  Horses 
and  carriages  were  ordered  post-haste,  jewelry,  money 
and  other  valuables  packed  up,  and.  just  as  we  were 
about  ready  to  set  out,  a  mounted  courier  came  dashing 
through  the  streets,  his  horse  all  covered  with  mud  and 
foam,  and  the  courier  shouting,  as  he  flew  past,  Vic- 
tory' Victory!!  Our  boys  have  stove  the  British  army 
all  to  pieces'!!'  This  was  one  of  Major  Hinds's  Missis- 
sippi mounted  riflemen  sent  to  bring  us  the  good  news. 

Captain heard  the  shouts  of  the  Mississippian,  but 

shook  his  head.  T  can't  believe  it,  ladies!'  he  said.  'I 
still  advise  you  to  go.'  But  we  believed  it,  and  we  did 
not  go.  In  half  an  hour  all  was  confirmed !  The  British 
captain  was  silent  then !"  ^  .  .       , 

All  this  was  in  French.  When  Madame  Livingston 
had  finished  her  recital-or  rather  when  she  paused  to 
catch  her  breath-Captain  Garland  remarked: 

"Oh,  yes,  madame.  We  fellows  in  the  Chalmette  lines 
five  weeks  ago  to-day  knew  all  those  things  of  which 
you  have  spoken;  and  we  made  up  our  minds  that  the 
mothers   and   daughters   of    New    Orleans   needed   de- 


86         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

fence  a  little  stronger  and  somewhat  more  trenchant 
than  that  of  an  English  officer  already  severely 
wounded!" 

"Seeing  is  believing,"  said  madame  tersely. 

Be  the  truth  what  it  may,  Jackson's  riflemen  firmly 
believed  that  their  British  assailants  meant  the  worst 
that  could  happen  to  the  women  they  w^ere  there  to 
defend ;  and  there  cannot  be  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that 
such  belief  caused  many  a  "bead"  to  be  "drawn  a  little 
finer"  on  a  British  soldier's  head  than  it  otherwise  might 
have  been. 

If,  as  British  writers  have  asserted,  the  "Booty  and 
Beauty"  story  was  an  invention  of  Jackson  himself,  to 
infuriate  his  men,  the  desired  result  was  attained, 
though  it  is  not  apparent  that  they  needed  much 
prompting. 

The  folk-lore  of  those  days  was  never  complete  until 
every  great  warlike  event  had  its  fireside  ballad — its  log- 
cabin  epic — that  the  children  could  learn  by  heart  from 
their  grandmothers.  New  Orleans  was  prolific  of  this 
spontaneous  literature,  particularly  along  the  great  fron- 
tier that  had  furnished  its  defenders.  Among  the  most 
interesting  of  these  ballads  was  one  circulated  in  a 
printed  leafiet  among  the  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  rifle- 
men when  disbanded  the  i8th  of  March.  It  was  anony- 
mous then  and  so  remained  for  many  years  until  its 
authorship  was  traced  to  young  Ogilvy.  The  original 
contained  thirty-two  verses,  and  for  a  generation  it  was 
the  standard  "recitation"  in  every  log-house  from  the 
Ohio  to  the  Missouri.  The  following  selections  will 
indicate  its  character: 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       87 

On  Ocean  and  Shore, 

The  Wide  World  o'er, 
Old  England  had  Conquered  her  Way, 

Till  the  Sun  never  Shone 

But  on  Lands  her  Own 
And  Peoples  Beneath  her  Sway. 

Her  Battles  were  Won, 

Her  Conquests  were  Done, 
And  Every  Ocean  was  White, 

With  Sails  of  her  Fleet, 

Till  East  and  West  Meet 
And  her  Empire  Knew  no  Night. 

When,  Greatest  of  All, 

She  had  Wrought  the  Downfall 
Of  Destiny's  Favorite  One, 

She  Turned  her  Proud  Might 

'Gainst  Freedom  and  Right 
In  the  Land  of  the  Setting  Sun. 

Her  Lion-flag  Flew 

And  her  Bugles  Blew 
From  Cathay  to  the  Zuyder  Zee, 

But  Never  as  Yet 

Had  her  Legions  Met, 
Old  Kentucky  and  Tennessee ! 

An  Army  and  Fleet 

That  Knew  no  Defeat, 
She  Sent  Stealthy  over  the  Wave 

To  Surprise  a  Lone  Spot 

That  she  Fondly  Tho't 
We  Could  not  Defend  or  Save. 

So,  One  Fateful  Morn 
When  a  Year  was  Born 


88  HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Hard  by  the  Great  River's  Tide, 

Her  Exultant  Ranks 

Charged  Along   its   Banks 
In  Panoply,  Pomp  and  Pride. 

What  her  Warriors  Dreamed 
When  their  Bayonets  Gleamed 

Along  the  Great  River's   Shore, 
May  Never  be  Told 
For  their  Tongues   are  Cold 

And  Hushed  Forevermore. 

For  a  Flood  of  Lead 

Through   Heart  or  Head 
From  Rifles  Long  and  True 

Swept  Over  that  Plain 

Heapt  up  with  Slain 
And  Soaked  with  Crimson  Dew. 

'Tis  True  as  'tis 'Said, 

That  their  Blood  was  Shed 
Whilst  the  Peace  Angel   Flew  over  Sea, 

But  the  Father  Above 

Sent  no  White-Winged  Dove 
Bearing  Branch  of  the  Olive  Tree. 

We  must  Honor  the  Grave 

Of   Soldiers  so   Brave, 
Howsoever  Dark  the  Crime 

Of  the  Cunning  Knaves 

Who  Sent  them  like  Slaves 
To  be  Butchered  in  Far-off  Clime. 

Ah  !     'Tis  for  the  Best. 

British  Heroes,  Rest ! 
Sleep  Under  the  Cypress  Tree ! 

And  the  Peace  ye  Sleep 

Let  Old  England  Keep, 
With  Kentucky  and  Tennessee ! 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       89 

The  foregoing  may  not  have  much  of  the  "divine 
afflatus"  about  it,  but  it  was  the  kind  of  ''poetry"  the 
pioneers  Hked  to  hear  their  children  recite  around  their 
humble  firesides. 

The    last    of    the    volunteers  —  Hinds's    Mississippi 
mounted    rifles — left    for    home    Sunday,    March    19th. 
Jackson's    army    now    consisted    only    of    the    Seventh, 
Thirteenth    and    Forty-fourth    Regular    Infantry  — the 
Thirteenth  recently  arrived  from  Savannah — and  three 
regular  batteries,  with  Ogden's  troop  of  the  First  United 
States  Dragoons.     But  if  the  army's  work  was  done, 
the  General's  was  not.     He  still  had  to  settle  the  almost 
innumerable  claims  of  citizens  whose  supplies  had  been 
taken  or  seized  under  martial  law.     And,  above  all,  he 
had  to  settle  an  account  with  the  Federal  judiciary  of 
the  district,  which  considered  itself  as  having  been  sub- 
jected to  lawless  outrage  at  his  hands.     The  first  judicial 
act  of  Judge  Hall  after  he  had  once  more  donned  the 
ermine  was  to  issue,  upon  the  affidavit  of   Counsellor 
John   Dick,   a   bench-warrant    for   the   apprehension   of 
Andrew  Jackson,  to  appear  March  24th,  charged  with 
contempt    of    court.      The    General    promptly    appeared 
with  his  counsel,  Edward  Livingston,  and  offered  to  file 
argument  to  show  why  the  accused  should  be  discharged. 
The  court  ruled  as  follows : 

1.  If  the  party  demur  to  the  jurisdiction,  the  Court  will  hear. 

2.  If  the  party's  affidavit  deny  the  facts  sworn  to,  or  if  he 
wish  to  show  that  the  facts  as  charged  do  not  amount  to  a 
contempt,  the  Court  will  hear. 

3.  If  the  party  be  desirous  to  show  that,  by  the  Constitution 
and  laws  of  the  United  States,  or  in  virtue  of  his  military  com- 


90         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

mission,  he  had  a  right  to  act  as  charged  in  the  affidavit   [of 
Mr.  Dick],  the  Court  will  hear. 

4.  If  the  answer  contain  anything  as  an  apology  to  the  Court, 
it  will  hear. 

Upon  this  ruling,  after  some  colloquial  discussion  be- 
tween Judge  Hall  and  ^Ir.  Livingston,  the  latter  was 
allowed  to  begin  the  reading  of  his  defence.  It  soon 
appeared  that  the  paper  was  simply  a  justification  of  the 
proclamation  of  martial  law  and  its  enforcement  on 
grounds  of  military  necessity  alone  and  irrespective  of 
the  Constitution  and  the  civil  laws.  The  court  thereupon 
interrupted  the  reading,  summarily  adjudged  General 
Jackson  to  be  in  contempt,  and  fined  him  a  thousand 
dollars,  to  be  paid  on  or  before  March  31st. 

As  the  General  left  the  court-room  the  people  seized 
him,  raised  him  upon  their  shoulders,  bore  him  into  the 
street  and  committed  other  absurd  and  disorderly  acts, 
including  violent  denunciation  of  Judge  Hall,  Jackson 
did  his  best  to  quiet  them  and  finally  escaped  to  his 
head-quarters,  whence  he  immediately  sent  to  the  mar- 
shal of  the  court,  by  the  hands  of  Major  Eaton,  his 
check  for  the  amount  of  the  fine.  A  movement  was 
immediately  started  by  some  of  the  citizens  to  reimburse 
him  by  raising  a  popular  subscription,  limited  to  one 
dollar  for  each  subscriber.  But  by  the  time  they  had 
raised  nearly  two  hundred  dollars — Nolte  says  $164 — 
the  General  heard  of  it  and  publicly  requested  that  the 
movement  be  discontinued. 

As  soon  as  official  intelligence  of  these  proceedings 
reached  Washington,  the  administration  censured  Gen- 
eral Jackson  with  something  less  than  its  customary 
mildness  in  a  letter  written  by  Acting-Secretary  of  War 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       91 

Dallas,  and  asking  for  a  full  explanation.     In  response, 
the  General  forwarded  the  paper  which  Judge  Hall  had 
refused  to  hear;  which  closed  the  incident  until  he  be- 
came a  presidential   candidate.      The  verdict   of   sober 
history  after  nearly  a  century  doubtless  sustains  Jackson. 
If  it  was  necessary  to  maintain  martial  law   after  the 
British  had  gone  back  on  board  their  ships  and  sailed 
away  or  until  peace  was  finally  ratified,  it  was  also  nec- 
essary to  enforce  it  with  as  much  rigor  at  one  time  as 
at  another.     The  whole  doubt  in  the  case  is  whether, 
under  the  circumstances,  the  maintenance  of  martial  law 
was  justified  at  a  date  as  late  as  that  of  the  arrest  and 
temporary  exile  of  Judge  Hall.     But  there  has  never 
been  doubt  in  any  candid  mind  as  to  General  Jackson's 
own  sincerity  in  the  belief  that  the  public  welfare  did 
demand  it.     In  later  years  the  American  people  have 
become  accustomed  to  temporary  martial  law  in  great 
public  emergencies  or  calamities  such  as  conflagrations, 
floods,  pestilence  and  labor  strikes,  not  to  mention  war; 
and  the  sensitiveness  of  the  people  has  been  blunted. 
But  in  181 5  a  different  popular  sentiment  prevailed,  pos- 
sible encroachments  of  military  upon  civil  power  were 
more  jealously  viewed  than  they  are  now.     However, 
the  affair  did  not  affect  the  General's  national  popularity, 
and  the  name  of  Judge  Hall  is  retained  in  American 
history  solely  because  he  once  punished  Andrew  Jackson 
for  contempt  of  court. 

The  General  soon  found  out  that  it  was  far  easier  to 
adjust  his  differences  with  Judge  Hall  than  to  settle 
accounts  with  the  numerous  citizens  whose  property  had 
been  seized  for  public  use  during  the  state  of  siege. 
His  first  step  in  this  direction  was  to  establish  the  rule 


92         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

that  everything  which  had  been  seized  should  be  paid 
for  at  the  market  price  it  bore  at  the  time  of  seizure. 
This  rule  cut  both  ways. 

Articles  of  export,  such  as  cotton,  which  had  been 
begging  for  buyers  at  any  price  while  the  blockade  was 
on,  rose  to  almost  any  price  that  might  be  asked  when 
foreign  commerce  was  set  free.  Imported  goods,  which 
could  hardly  be  bought  at  any  price  during  the  blockade, 
became  a  drug  in  the  market  when  cargoes  began  to  ar- 
rive. The  result  was  that  the  General  settled  for  seized 
cotton  at  six  cents  a  pound,  w^hen  it  was  selling  at  four- 
teen ;  he  paid  twelve,  fourteen  and  as  high  as  sixteen 
dollars  for  seized  woollen  blankets,  and  similar  rates 
for  duck  appropriated  to  make  tents,  when  the  same  kinds 
of  goods  were  selling  for  half  those  prices  or  less. 

These  conditions  sorely  afflicted  our  old  friend  Nolte, 
and  his  lamentations  were  loud  and  long.  They  have 
reached  even  to  our  own  time.  The  entertaining  mer- 
chant may,  in  his  own  phrase,  depict  his  own  tribula- 
tions : 

IMy  first  care,  after  release  from  military  service,  naturally 
was  to  look  after  my  business,  which  now — the  end  of  March — 
had  been  neglected  three  and  a  half  months,  or  since  the  mid- 
dle of  December.  Recollecting  the  many  kind  expressions 
General  Jackson  had  made  to  me  and  to  others  concerning 
me,  and  keeping  particularly  in  mind  his  remark  when  my  cot- 
ton was  seized,  that  "we  would  settle  for  it  as  two  business 
men  when  the  trouble  was  over,"  I  had  no  doubt  of  being  at 
least  fairly  if  not  liberally  dealt  with. 

I  put  in  my  claim  in  two  parts.  The  first  was  for  750  woollen 
coverings,  taken  from  my  warerooms ;  the  second  for  250  bales 
of  cotton  taken  from  the  brig  Pallas  (December  24-25-26). 
For  the  blankets  I  received  the  price  that  was  current  the  day 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       93 

the  English  landed-$ii  a  pair.  The  General  remarked  that 
as  my  goods  had  been  taken  to  cover  the  Tennessee  troops,  I 
should  be  paid  in  Tennessee  bank-notes,  upon  which  there  was 
a  discount  of  nearly  ten  per  cent,  (as  they  could  be  used  only 
in  settling  Tennessee  balances). 

As  for  the  cotton,  General  Jackson  proposed  the  same  basis 
of  settlement,  viz.:  The  price  current  when  the  English 
landed.  I  asked  to  be  allowed  the  price  cotton  was  worth 
then;  that  is,  on  the  day  of  payment.* 

I  called  on  the  General.  He  heard  me,  but  that  was  all.  "Are 
you  not  lucky  to  have  saved  the  rest  of  your  cotton  by  our 
defence?"  he  asked.  "Certainly,  General,  as  lucky  as  others 
in  the  city  whose  cotton  has  also  been  saved.  But  the  differ- 
ence between  me  and  the  rest  is  that  none  of^the  others  have 
anything  to  pay  and  I  have  to  bear  all  the  loss." 

"Loss !"  exclaimed  the  General.    "Why,  you  have  saved  all !" 

I  saw  that  an  argument  was  useless  with  so  stiff-necked  a 
man,  and  remarked  to  him  that  I  only  wanted  compensation  for 
my  cotton,  and  that  the  best  compensation  would  be  to  give  me 
precisely  the  quantity  that  had  been  taken  from  me  and  of  the 

same   quality. 

To  this  the  General  replied  that  he  liked  straightforward 
business,  that  my  proposition  was  too  complicated,  that  to  adopt 
it  would  compel  him  to  go  into  the  market  as  a  buyer,  etc.  He 
wound  up  by  saying:  "You  must  take  six  cents  (a  pound) 
for  your  cotton."  I  endeavored  to  resume  the  argument.  He 
cut  me  off  with:  "I  can  say  no  more.  It  is  done!"  Then, 
assuming  an  entirely  different  tone,  he  said:  "Come,  come, 
now,  Mr.  NoUe,  we  have  been  soldiers  together !     Let's  take 

*  Nolte  seems  to  have  had  a  hard  bargain  in  his  mind's  eye.  He  had  ac- 
cepted without  murmur  $ii  a  pair  for  his  blankets,  which  was  the  price 
when  the  Enghsh  landed.  But,  as  blankets  were  an  article  of  foreign  make 
and  imported,  the  lifting  of  the  blockade  had  brought  their  price  down  to 
$6  a  pair.  Now,  when  cotton  came  to  be  considered,  its  current  price— and 
that  itself  nominal  rather  than  actual— while  the  blockade  was  in  force  had 
been  six  or  seven  cents,  whereas  at  the  date  of  settlement  active  demand 
for  export  had  run  the  price  up  to  fourteen  cents.  The  boot,  therefore,  was 
on  the  other  leg. 


94         HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

a  glass  of  whiskey  and  water !     You  must  be  d d  dry  with 

all  your  arguing." 

Then,  though  many  were  waiting  to  see  him  in  the  next  room, 
he  began  talking  in  a  pleasant  way  about  what  he  termed  "our 
efforts  and  sacrifices  to  defend  the  country,"  the  "grand  suc- 
cess that  had  crowned  our  efforts,"  etc.,  etc. ;  and  wound  up 
by  saying  that  "a  little  loss  on  cotton  was  nothing  compared 
to  the  honor  of  having  borne  a  creditable  part  in  such  achieve- 
ments !" 

Nolte  somewhat  amusingly  remarks  that  he  left  head- 
quarters in  a  frame  of  mind  about  equally  balanced  be- 
tween the  pleasure  caused  by  the  General's  military  com- 
pliments and  the  pain  inflicted  by  his  arbitrary  business 
exactions. 

Settlement  of  the  *'war-claims"  consumed  nearly  three 
weeks.  The  General  declaretl  that,  so  far  as  he  was 
concerned,  everything  should  be  settled  equitably.  He 
had  no  authority  to  do  more  than  certify  claims  in  his 
capacity  of  commander  of  the  Seventh  Military  District. 
But  he  did  a  great  deal  more  than  that.  He  constituted 
himself  a  commissioner  to  adjust  claims  and  a  disbursing 
officer  to  pay  them,  drawing  drafts  at  ten-days  sight  on 
the  War  Department  for  that  purpose.  Irregular  as  all 
this  was,  his  drafts  were  honored.  No  one  in  Washing- 
ton seemed  willing  to  question  the  acts  of  the  victor  of 
New  Orleans,  the  most  popular  man  in  the  United  States 
and,  for  the  moment,  one  of  the  most  famous  generals 
in  the  world. 

The  last  expression  is  not  extravagant.  Napoleon, 
returning  from  Elba  to  eke  out  the  Hundred  Days  and 
add  the  word  Waterloo  to  history,  paused  now  and  then 
a  moment  to  study  Jackson  at  New  Orleans.     The  Duke 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       95 

of  Wellington,  chosen  by  assembled  Europe  to  meet  the 
crisis,  could  find  time  even  at  Brussels  to  call  "for  all 
available  information  on  the  abortive  expedition  against 
Louisiana." 

Before  he  knew  or  even  suspected  it,  Jackson's  fame 
had  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  while  he  was  immersed 
in  the  ignoble  business  of  settling  claims  for  cotton,  for 
blankets  and  for  corn-meal  and  bacon,  the  first  generals 
of  Europe  were  studying  his  campaigns  and  analyzing 
his  victories. 

During  all  this  time  he  was  the  central  figure — one 
might  almost  say  the  victim — of  ceaseless  festivity.  The 
day  after  the  disbandment  of  the  army,  Mrs.  Jackson 
came  to  New  Orleans,  bringing  their  adopted  son,  An- 
drew, Jr.,  then  a  lusty  little  fellow  of  seven.  Mrs.  Jack- 
son had  never  before  seen  any  city  more  pretentious  than 
Nashville.  She  was  literally  a  woman  of  the  frontier. 
Her  pioneer  life  has  already  been  briefly  told.  She  was 
now  (181 5)  forty-eight  years  old;  her  birthday  and 
that  of  the  General  in  1767  being  only  three  months 
apart — his  in  March  and  hers  in  June.  She  was  short 
in  stature,  stout  in  form  and  florid  in  complexion,  with 
dark  eyes  and  black  hair,  now  somewhat  threaded  with 
gray.  "The  benignity  of  her  expression,"  says  Benton, 
"was  indescribable;  but  it  was  no  more  than  the  radia- 
tion of  her  goodness.  Providence  had  denied  her  off- 
spring of  her  own,  but  she  was  a  mother  to  all  who 
knew  her.  She  was,  of  all  women  ever  created,  the  wife 
for  the  man  who  was  her  husband.  My  memory  of  her 
covers  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  from  my  earliest 
visit  to  Nashville  until  her  death.  In  her  house  I  felt 
at  home  next  to  that  of  my  own  mother.     She  lived 


96         HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

more  for  others  and  less  for  herself  than  anyone  I  have 
known. 

"When  she  came  to  Robertson's  Station,  or  'French 
Salt  Spring/  in  1780,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  with  her 
father,  Colonel  John  Donelson,  she  was  literally  the 
pioneer  girl  of  the  Cumberland  Valley.  To  her  last 
hour  she  was  the  pioneer  w^oman.  Her  frankness,  her 
sincerity,  her  benevolence,  her  charity,  her  patience  and, 
above  all,  her  simple  piety  survived  all  the  storms  of  her 
husband's  career,  all  the  adulations  that  success  show- 
ered upon  him  and  her.  She  lived  to  see  him  elected 
President,  but  not  to  share  wnth  him  the  honors  or  the 
burdens  of  that  great  office.  I  have  sometimes  thought 
that  General  Jackson  might  have  been  a  more  equable 
tenant  of  the  White  House  than  he  was  had  she  been 
spared  to  share  it  wnth  him.  At  all  events,  she  was  the 
only  human  being  on  earth  who  ever  possessed  the  power 
to  swerve  his  mighty  will  or  soothe  his  fierce  temper." 

To  such  a  woman  the  society  of  New  Orleans  was  a 
revelation.  She  was,  of  course,  the  guest  of  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingston. The  two  represented  types  of  womanhood  as 
distinctive  as  nature  and  environment  can  produce :  Mrs. 
Livingston,  the  highest  possible  development  of  the  Cre- 
ole belle;  Mrs.  Jackson,  the  ultimate  matronly  product 
of  the  frontier.  Entertaining  legends  linger  in  Creole 
tradition  of  Mrs.  Livingston's  training  of  Mrs.  Jackson 
for  the  social  events  that  awaited  her — or  that  impended 
over  her,  as  Mrs.  Jackson  may  have  thought.  Of  course 
the  tact  and  the  taste  of  the  Frenchwoman  triumphed. 
Mrs.  Jackson  was  presented  to  Creole  society  in  her 
appropriate  role  as  the  dignified  and  matronly  spouse 
of  the  man  whose  name  was  a  household   word   from 


BRITISH    DESIGNS    IN    LOUISIANA       97 

mansion  to  log-cabin  or  hunter's  camp,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf. 
The  General's  devotion  to  Mrs.   Jackson,  proverbial 
as  it  was  at  home,  had  never  been  so  constantly  or  so 
lavishly  exhibited  as  in  the  stately  affairs  of  polished 
New  Orleans.     Debonair  as  he  had  been  in  his  asso- 
ciation with  the  Creole  belles,  he  never  missed  an  oppor- 
tunity to  demonstrate  that  he  considered  the  short,  stout, 
beaming  matron  at  his  side  the  perfection  of  her  sex 
and   far  and  away  the  most  charming  woman  in  the 
world.     Even  the  cynical  Nolte,  who  so  far  forgot  the 
chivalry  naturally  to  be  expected  of  a  brave  soldier  and 
a  noted  duellist  as  to  indulge  in  some  rather  amusing 
comments   upon   ''Lady   Jackson's"    appearance   on   the 
dancing-floor,  was  constrained  to  say  that  ''the  General's 
devotion    to    his    simple-mannered    and    homely-gaited 
spouse  showed  in  him  a  quality  that  his  official  bearing 
led  few  to  suspect.     It  was  much  remarked  that,  what- 
ever he  might  be  on  the  battle-field,  he  must  be  a  model 
husband  at  home." 


Vol.  II.— 7 


CHAPTER    IV 

HONORS    FOR   A    NATIONAL   HERO 

Mrs.  Jackson's  stay  in  New  Orleans  was  not  pro- 
longed. Arriving  March  19th,  she  was  on  her  way 
home  again  the  6th  of  April,  and  she  took  the  General 
with  her.  At  Natchez  they  were  detained  a  week  by 
a  vexatious  lawsuit  on  an  attachment  growing  out  of 
certain  litigation  then  pending  between  Herman  Blen- 
nerhassett  and  Aaron  Burr.  The  case  was  dismissed 
upon  hearing  and  the  distinguished  family  resumed  their 
journey,  arriving  at  Nashville  the  15th  of  May.  Here 
further  honors,  speeches  and  presentations — including,  of 
course,  an  elegant  sword — awaited  the  idol  of  the  State 
and  hero  of  the  nation.  Finally,  after  the  enthusiastic 
gratitude  and  pride  of  his  neighbors  were  exhausted, 
the  war-worn  soldier  was  permitted  to  retire  to  his  plan- 
tation and  "resume,"  as  he  himself  expressed  it,  ''the 
cultivation  of  that  friendly  intercourse  with  my  friends 
and  neighbors  which  has  heretofore  constituted  so  great 
a  portion  of  my  happiness." 

Excepting  a  brief  visit — only  nineteen  days — in  the 
summer  of  18 14,  he  had  been  absent  from  his  plantation 
nearly  two  years.  But  he  could  not  see  that  it  had 
suffered  from  his  inattention  to  its  affairs.  After  all, 
he  had  to  admit,  by  no  means  for  the  first  time,  that  his 
wife  was  the  better  planter  of  the  two.  He  rested  four 
whole  months.     Relaxation  from  the  tremendous  strain 

98 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO        99 

of  three  campaigns  and  a  dozen  battles  between  the 
end  of  September,  181 3,  and  the  end  of  May,  181 5, 
brought  on  indisposition  closely  bordering  upon  serious 
illness.  Always  fond  of  the  good  things  of  life  and 
congenial  fellowship,  he  did  not  spare  himself  in  diet 
or  in  real  rest  as  much  as  he  ought  to  have  done.  But 
by  the  middle  of  October  he  felt  well  enough  to  saddle 
his  horse  and  start  over  the  mountains  for  Washing- 
ton, in  obedience  to  an  invitation  from  the  Secretary  of 
War  to  participate  in  a  conference  for  the  reduction  of 
the  regular  army  to  a  peace  footing  and  for  the  division 
of  the  country  into  two  grand  military  districts. 

There  were  two  major-generals,  himself  and  Jacob 
Brown,  of  New  York,  the  ''hero  of  Lundy's  Lane." 
Brown  ranked  Jackson  by  date  of  commission.  Jackson 
ranked  Brown — in  the  popular  estimation,  at  least — by 
lustre  of  achievement.  The  laurels  of  the  Niagara  fron- 
tier looked  pale  by  comparison  with  those  of  the  lower 
Mississippi.  But  there  was  no  titulary  "commander-in- 
chief  of  the  army"  then,  though  Brown  became  so  when 
the  rank  was  established  six  years  later. 

All  along  his  route  from  Nashville  to  Washington 
the  victorious  General  was  showered  with  attentions. 
Had  he  submitted  to  the  wishes  of  the  people  he  would 
have  been  banqueted  and  toasted  at  every  considerable 
town  on  the  road.  But  he  told  everyone  that  he  must 
make  the  best  possible  time  to  the  Capital  and  declined 
all  until  he  came  to  Lynchburg.  There  the  irrepressible 
hospitality  of  Old  Virginia  had  determined  that  he 
should  stop,  and  stop  he  had  to.  Away  down  by  the 
North  Carolina  line  a  delegation  awaited  him  w4th  in- 
formation that  a  banquet  would  be  laid  for  him  in  the 


loo       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Piedmont  metropolis  and,  most  important  of  all,  that 
the  venerable  Thomas  Jefferson  would  come  from  classic 
Monticello  to  preside. 

Jackson  was  in  a  hatchet-burying  mood  then.  Rela- 
tions between  Jefferson  and  himself  had  been  strained 
ever  since  that  memorable  speech  at  Richmond  in  1807. 
The  Sage  of  Monticello  was  out  of  politics  now,  but 
the  light  of  his  countenance  might  be  a  good  omen  for 
a  man  who  had,  perhaps,  some  indefinite  notion  of  get- 
ting in.  Anyhow,  Jackson  accepted  the  honor  of  the 
banquet  at  which  Jefferson  was  to  preside.  It  was  a 
stately  affair.  The  old  Prophet  of  Pure  Democracy,  in 
his  seventy-third  year,  was  still  at  his  best.  He  gave 
the  toast :  ''Honor  and  Gratitude  to  those  who  have  filled 
the  Measure  of  their  Country's  Honor." 

.The  terms  were  general  but  the  application  was  uni- 
versally accepted  as  personal,  and  by  no  one  more  im- 
plicitly than  by  Jackson,  who  in  turn  volunteered  a  toast 
to  "Ja^es  Monroe,  Secretary  of  War,"  protege  and 
friend  of  Jefferson,  and  his  candidate  for  the  presidency 
the  next  year!  Thus  the  tomahawk  was  consigned  to 
its  tomb  and  Democratic  harmony  restored.* 

The  General  arrived  at  Washington  November  17th. 
and  then  there  was  more  lionizing.  In  fact,  it  seems 
well  enough  to  say  at  this  point,  that  for  the  rest  of  his 
career  Jackson  was  always  banqueted  and  feted  and 
toasted  wherever  he  went.  It  may  therefore  be  taken 
for  granted  in  all  cases,  and  thereby  the  encumbering 
of  history  with  its  monotonous  details  be  avoided.     A 

*  This  love-feast,  however,  did  not  prevent  Jcfiferson  from  saying  nine 
years  later,  in  the  full  wisdom  of  eighty-two  winters,  that  Jackson  was  "tlie 
most  unfit  man  for  the  presidency  he  knew  of." 


HONORS  FOR  A  NATIONAL  HERO   loi 

full  account  of  all  the  dinners  and  public  receptions  and 
toasts  and  speeches  in  honor  of  Jackson  on  his  travels, 
from  1815  to  1845,  would  fill  a  respectable  encyclo- 
paedia. 

The  conference  at  Washington  between  Secretary  of 
War  Monroe  and  Major-Generals  *  Brown  and  Jackson 
resulted  in  the  creation  of  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Military   Divisions,   the   head-quarters   of   the   latter   to 
be  at  Nashville,  with  Jackson  in  command.    The  strength 
of  the  regular  army  was  fixed  at  10,000  men.     Jackson 
thought  it  ought  to  be   15,000,  but  did  not  press  his 
views.      He   knew   more   about   the   conditions   on   the 
Southern  frontiers  than  Monroe  or  Brown  did.     But  he 
kept  his  own  counsel.     They  thought  the  war  was  over. 
Jackson  knew  it  was  not  over  and  never  could  be  so 
long  as   Spain  held  Florida.     In  fact,  the  writings  of 
General  Eaton  in  a  guarded  way  indicate  that  Jackson 
believed  at  the  time  under  consideration  that  England 
wanted  another  war  with  the  United  States  as  soon  as 
she  could  catch  her  breath,  and  that  she  would  use  Span- 
ish Florida  as  a  base  from  which  to  keep  the  Southern 
Indians  stirred  up — a  view  that  events  proved  to  be  not 
far  from  prophetic.     Jackson  also  knew,  far  better  and 
more  clearly  than  his  colleagues,  that  the  existing  treaties 
with    the    Southern    Indians — particularly    that    of    the 
Hickory  Ground  with  the  Creeks— were  only  temporary, 

*  There  were  two  other  major-generals  on  the  list,  Scott  and  Macomb. 
They  were  retained  in  the  service  on  the  reduction  of  the  army,  but  received 
no  division  commands.  Scott  was  sent  to  Europe  on  a  professional  mission 
and  afterward  employed  to  re^^se  the  tactics  of  the  army.  Macomb  was 
made  chief  of  engineers  with  the  rank  of  colonel  in  that  arm  of  the  service, 
but  by  special  act  retaining  the  pay  and  allowances  of  his  full  rank  as  major- 
general. 


I02        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

had  been  extorted  by  force,  and  were  now  viewed  by 
the  Indians  with  restlessness,  if  not  with  resentment. 
However,  the  reduction  of  the  army  to  10,000  men  was 
unanimously  recommended  by  the  conference  and 
promptly  ratified  by  Congress. 

Having  discharged  this  duty,  General  Jackson  spent 
some  time  in  Washington,  laying  out  a  scheme  of  fron- 
tier-posts, providing  for  their  erection  and  supply  and 
arranging  to  garrison  them  with  the  slender  force  placed 
at  his  disposal.  Small  as  the  army  on  its  peace  footing 
was  and  more  extensive  and  turbulent  as  were  the  fron- 
tiers he  had  to  guard,  considerably  less  than  half  the 
meagre  force  left  available  was  allotted  to  Jackson's 
Southern  Military  Division. 

He  returned  to  Nashville  in  a  leisurely  way  during 
the  months  of  February  arid  March,  1816,  and  went 
thence  to  New  Orleans  in  May. 

The  ensuing  two  years  may,  for  the  purposes  of  this 
work,  be  passed  over  somewhat  briefly.  In  the  main, 
Jackson  devoted  his  time  and  energies  to  the  duties  of 
his  military  command.  These  duties  then  had  a  wider 
scope  than  a  similar  assignment  of  a  major-general 
would  have  now.  Besides  the  establishment  of  frontier- 
posts  and  the  distribution  of  troops  in  garrison,  respon- 
sibilities of  even  greater  importance  were  entailed  by  the 
Indian  situation  in  the  South  at  the  close  of  the  war 
with  Great  Britain.  The  major-general  commanding 
was  not  only  charged  with  maintenance  of  peace  and 
security  on  the  long  and  turbulent  frontier,  but  he  was 
also,  ex  officio,  a  member — and  the  most  important  mem- 
ber— of  all  commissions  appointed  to  treat  with  the  In- 
dian  tribes   embraced   in   the   territory   of   his   military 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO      103 

division.  During  the  period  under  consideration  new 
treaties  in  accordance  with  the  altered  condition  of 
affairs,  and  made  necessary  by  the  expansion  of  popu- 
lation and  enterprise  southward  and  southwestward, 
were  concluded  with  the  Cherokees,  Choctaws,  Chicka- 
saws  and  that  large  majority  of  the  Creek  nation  who, 
having  accepted  in  good  faith  the  results  of  the  war, 
remained  in  the  territory  of  the  United  States.  These 
treaties  were  on  the  whole  generous  to  the  Indians. 

As  might  be  expected,  Jackson  was  the  actual  head 
of  every  commission,  if  not,  indeed,  the  commission 
itself,  de  facto.  He  knew  the  Indians  better  than  any 
other  white  man,  and  they  had  more  respect  for  him 
than  for  all  other  white  men.  They  believed  implicitly 
not  only  in  his  integrity,  but  also  in  his  magnanimity. 
Above  all — and  that  is  always  to  the  Indian  mind  the 
ultimate  argument — they  knew  the  weight  of  his  arm. 
As  a  rule,  he  derived  but  little  assistance  from  his  civil- 
ian colleagues  in  negotiating  these  treaties.  In  at  least 
one  case — that  of  the  Chickasaw  treaty  of  18 18 — the 
General's  civilian  colleague,  Governor  Shelby,  of  Ken- 
tucky, assumed  an  attitude  which  in  the  end  compelled 
the  former  to  give  his  personal  bond  for  $20,000,  to  be 
paid  by  himself  in  case  the  government  should  refuse 
to  ratify  the  stipulation  for  fifteen  years'  annuity  of 
$20,000  a  year.  Governor  Shelby  being  averse  to  more 
than  fourteen  years  at  that  rate.  General  Jackson, 
knowing  that  the  Chickasaws  would  accept  nothing  less 
than  $20,000  a  year  for  fifteen  years — or  $300,000  alto- 
gether— took  the  risk  of  guaranteeing  the  additional 
$20,000,  which  induced  Governor  Shelby  to  sign  the 
treaty.     The  bond  was  never  called,  because  the  govern- 


I04       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

ment  unhesitatingly  ratified  the  treaty  with  the  fifteen- 
year  clause. 

The  lands  involved  constituted  those  parts  of  Tennes- 
see and  Kentucky  between  the  Tennessee  and  Mississippi 
Rivers.  The  Chickasaws  did  not  occupy  it,  but  claimed 
the  territory  as  a  traditional  ''hunting-ground,"  their 
actual  habitat  being  the  northern  part  of  the  present 
State  of  Mississippi.  Governor  Shelby,  like  most  Ken- 
tuckians  of  that  day,  believed  that  the  most  strenuous 
Indian  policy  was  the  best,  if  he  did  not,  indeed,  hold 
the  theory  in  later  years,  tersely  expressed  by  General 
Sheridan,  that  ''the  only  good  Indian  is  a  dead  one." 
But  General  Jackson  inclined  to  a  more  humane  view. 
On  this  point  Major  Lewis,  who  acted  as  secretary  of  the 
commission,  said  that  the  General  was  always  infinitely 
more  patient  and  conciliatory  in  dealing  with  Indians 
than  with  white  men,  and  that  he  would  good-naturedly 
listen  to  their  long  harangues  and  humor  their  petty 
caprices  to  the  limit  when,  had  they  been  white  men, 
their  speeches  might  have  been  cut  short  and  their 
caprices  dashed  aside  by  a  peremptory  order. 

The  general  result  of  Jackson's  Indian  treaties  was  to 
tranquillize  the  Southern  frontier  and  make  positive  and 
well-defined  boundaries  between  the  lands  of  the  Indians 
and  those  available  for  white  settlement.  And  when  he 
had  by  treaty  established  an  Indian  reservation,  he  com- 
pelled all  white  "squatters"  within  its  limits  to  vacate 
with  a  summary  promptness  that  was  in  later  years  de- 
scribed by  his  political  adversaries  as  "ruthless"  and 
"cruel."  But  he  realized  even  at  that  early  date  that 
the  arrangements  he  made  in  iSi6-iy  and  'i8  for  In- 
dian occupation  of  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  could  be 


HONORS  FOR  A  NATIONAL  HERO   105 

but  temporary.  Colonel  Robert  Armstrong,  of  Tennes- 
see, represents  him  as  saying,  shortly  after  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  Chickasaw  treaty,  when  his  friends  congratu- 
lated him  upon  the  success  of  the  negotiation: 

"Yes,  yes;  it  is  good — as  far  as  it  goes.  But  none 
of  these  treaties  can  last  more  than  a  score  of  years. 
The  white  race  will  by  that  time  demand  access  to  every 
acre  east  of  the  river  [meaning  the  Mississippi],  and 
they  will  have  it,  too.  Nothing  can  stop  them.  I  feel 
sorry  for  the  Indians.  If  the  English  would  let  them 
alone  they  wouldn't  make  much  trouble.  They  can  lay 
all  their  misfortunes  at  the  door  of  England." 

The  effect  of  this  sentiment  may  be  traced  all  through 
General  Jackson's  Indian  policy,  whether  as  commander 
of  the  Southern  Military  Division  or  as  President.  He 
sympathized  with  the  Indians  to  the  verge  of  pity.  And 
he  held  to  his  dying  day  the  most  ferocious  resentment 
against  the  English  for  what  he  always  termed  "insti- 
gating them  to  their  own  destruction." 

The  minute  details  of  his  Indian  conferences,  councils 
and  negotiations;  of  their  speeches  and  his  own  replies; 
of  their  demands  and  his  concessions,  would  fill  this 
volume.  They  would,  however,  be  more  interesting  to 
the  student  of  aboriginal  character  than  to  the  reader 
of  history  in  these  times. 

During  this  period  General  Jackson  found  time  to 
carry  on  a  somewhat  voluminous  correspondence,  a  large 
part  of  which  has  been  preserved.  Some  of  it  is  highly 
creditable  to  his  intelligence  and  his  grasp  of  affairs. 
Some  of  it  serves  rather  to  exhibit  his  infirmities  of 
temper  than  the  calmness  of  his  judgment.  And  a 
little  of   it   is   positively   discreditable   from   any   point 


io6       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

of  view.  Under  the  first  head  must  be  classed  his  cor- 
respondence with  President  Monroe,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  latter's  administration,  upon  the  condition  of  the 
country.  This  correspondence,  in  fact,  began  just  before 
the  presidential  election  of  1816,  but  the  choice  of  Mr. 

Monroe  was  such  a  foregone  conclusion  that  his  "ad- 

...  • 

mmistration"  may  be  said  to  have  begim  with  his  nom- 
ination. In  181 5  some  of  Jackson's  friends  had  endeav- 
ored to  put  him  in  the  field  as  a  candidate.  But  he  met 
all  such  overtures  with  the  emphatic  declaration  that 
he  was  for  Monroe,  first,  last  and  all  the  time,  and  that, 
so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  any  mention  of  his  own  name 
in  presidential  connection  could  be  nothing  but  ridiculous. 
Monroe  knew  this.  Besides,  he  had  been  Secretary  of 
War  during  Jackson's  Louisiana  campaign,  and  con- 
ceived for  him  as  a  commander  the  most  extravagant 
admiration.  He  considered  Jackson  among  the  first 
three  generals  then  living,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  class 
him  with  Napoleon  and  Wellington. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  Mr.  Monroe  was 
not  a  great  man.  But  he  was  steady,  sensible,  sincere 
and  safe.  He  had  neither  the  great  intellect  and 
sinuous  subtlety  of  Jefferson,  nor  the  delicate  mental 
organism  and  shrinking  timidity  of  Madison.  But  he 
excelled  Jefferson  in  sincerity  and  Madison  in  decision, 
and  he  was  far  superior  to  both  in  courage.  If  he  lacked 
alike  the  diplomacy  of  the  one  and  the  philosophy  of 
the  other,  he  was  a  heartier  type  of  manhood  than  either. 
Above  all,  he  possessed  the  rare  arts  of  conciliating  with- 
out deceiving  and  of  being  mild  in  manner  without  being 
weak  in  action. 

These  were  the  qualities  that  made  Monroe's  admin- 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO      107 

istration  the  "Era  of  Good  Feeling,"  and  that  re-elected 
him  in  1820  with  unanimity  broken  only  by  a  single 
electoral  vote — a  vote  churlishly  recorded  for  his  Sec- 
retary of  State,  John  Quincy  Adams,  by  some  Rip  Van 
Winkle  Federalist  from  New  Hampshire. 

The  subject-matter  of  the  Monroe-Jackson  corre- 
spondence is  mainly  statesmanship  in  the  abstract  with 
incidental  reference  to  current  problems  of  practical  ad- 
ministration. It  is  marked  throughout  by  a  perfect 
reciprocity  of  confidence,  respect  and  admiration.  Its 
tone  is  lofty  and  it  discloses  throughout  mutual  aspira- 
tions of  the  purest  patriotism.  Its  most  interesting 
feature  in  the  permanent  historical  sense  is  General 
Jackson's  estimate  of  Mr.  Madison  and  review  of  Fed- 
eralism in  his  letter  of  January  6,  1817: 

I  have  read  with  satisfaction  that  part  of  your  letter  on  the 
rise,  progress  and  policy  of  the  Federahsts.     It  is   in  my  opin- 
ion a  just  exposition.     I  am  free  to  declare  that  had  I  com- 
manded the  Military  Department  when  the  Hartford  Conven- 
tion met,  if  it  had  been  the  last  act  of  my  life,  I  should  have 
punished  the  three  principal  leaders  of  the  party.     I  am  cer- 
tain an  independent  court-martial  would  have  condemned  them 
under  the  second  section  of  the  act  establishing  rules  and  regu- 
lations for  the  government  of  the  army  of  the  United  States. 
These  kind  of  men,  though  called  Federalists,  are  really  mon- 
archists  and  traitors  to  the   constituted  Government.     .     .     . 
Experience  in  the  late  war  taught  me  to  know  that  it  is  not 
those   who   cry   patriotism   the   loudest   who    are   the   greatest 
friends  to  their  country  or  will  risk  most  in  its  defence.     .    .    . 
I  have,  once  upon  a  time,  been  denounced  as  a  Federalist. 
You  will  smile  when  I  name  the  cause.     When  your  country 
put  up  your  name  in  opposition  to  Mr  M.  [meaning  Madison, 
in  1808]  I  was  one  of  those  who  gave  you  the  preference,  and 
for  the  reason  that  in  the  event  of  war,  which  was  then  prob- 


io8       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

able,  you  would  steer  the  vessel  of  State  with  more  energy. 
Mr.  M.  was  one  of  the  best  of  men  and  a  great  civilian,  I 
always  thought ;  but  I  always  believed  that  the  mind  of  a 
philosopher  could  not  dwell  on  blood  and  carnage  with  any 
composure;  of  course,  that  he  was  not  well  fitted  for  a  stormy 
sea. 

In  his  reply  to  the  letter  from  which  the  foregoing 
extracts  have  been  taken,  under  date  of  March  i,  1817, 
Mr.  Monroe  does  not  advert  to  General  Jackson's  views 
on  the  Hartford  Convention  or  Mr.  Madison.  But  he 
informs  the  General  that,  had  not  his  friend  and  Senator 
from  Tennessee,  Hon.  George  W.  Campbell,  positively 
assured  him  that  he  (the  General)  did  not  desire  to  be 
Secretary  of  War,  and  would  be  compelled  to  decline  if 
nominated,  he  (Mr.  Monroe)  would  have  sent  his  name 
to  the  Senate  for  confirmation  to  that  place  in  the 
Cabinet. 

The  reasons  Mr.  Campbell  gave  for  General  Jackson's 
disinclination  for  the  proposed  cabinet  office  were  that 
his  means  would  not  enable  him  to  afford  the  expense, 
that  Mrs.  Jackson  would  not  like  to  live  in  Washington, 
and  that  "he  believed,  in  the  present  unsettled  state  of 
Indian  affairs,  he  could  serve  the  country  to  better  pur- 
pose by  personally  concluding  with  them  the  treaties  al- 
ready under  consideration  than  by  undertaking  the 
administration  of  the  War  Department." 

These  reasons  may  have  been  entertained  by  General 
Jackson.  But  the  principal  one  in  reality  was  not  men- 
tioned. The  General  believed  that  war  with  Spain  could 
not  much  longer  be  averted;  that  such  a  war  must  in- 
volve England ;  and  he  wanted  to  be  in  active  field 
service  as  a  major-general  when  those — to  him — un- 
speakably desirable  conditions  might  eventuate. 


HONORS  FOR  A  NATIONAL  HERO   109 

The  other  correspondence  mentioned  was  with  Gen- 
eral Scott  concerning-  certain  remarks  the  latter  had 
made  about  Jackson's  protest  against  the  sending  of 
orders  to  subordinate  officers  in  his  military  division  over 
his  head,  and  with  General  Adair  concerning  his  (Jack- 
son's) denunciation,  in  his  official  report,  of  the  conduct 
of  the  Kentucky  militia  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river 
during  the  battle  of  New  Orleans. 

Concerning  the  protest  General  Scott  had  used  the 
"mutinous  language"  and  had  described  it  as  "a  repri- 
mand of  the  commander-in-chief,  the  President  of  the 
United  States;  for  it  is  a  principle  well  understood  that 
the  War  Department,  without  at  least  his  supposed 
sanction,  cannot  give  an  order  to  an  ensign." 

In  the  letter  admitting  the  use  of  such  language.  Gen- 
eral Scott  analyzed  the  logic  of  the  situation  somewhat 
elaborately  and  quite  clearly;  demonstrating  in  his  own 
way  that  the  President  could  not  be  denied  the  right 
of  issuing  direct  orders  to  officers  of  the  army  in  all 
grades,  upon  suitable  emergency,  without  abridging  his 
Constitutional  powers. 

To  this  moderate  and  courteous  explanation  General 
Jackson,  under  date  of  December  3,  18 17,  replied  at 
length.  His  letter  evinces  a  singular  struggle  in  his 
mind  between  bad  taste  and  bad  temper,  leaving  the 
issue  between  the  two  quite  undecided.  If  it  were  the 
purpose  of  this  work  to  depreciate  the  memory  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson  in  history,  we  should  hasten  to  print  the 
letter  verbatim,  with  adventitious  display  of  italics  and 
small  capitals.  But,  having  other  objects  in  view,  we 
shall  offer  only  so  much  of  it  as  may  be  needed  to  show 
that  Jackson's  temper  got  the  better  not  only  of  his 


no       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

judgment,  but  also  of  most  other  good  qualities  he  pos- 
sessed.    In  his  conclusion  he  wrote: 

"For  what  I  have  said  I  offer  no  apology.  You  have 
deserved  it  all  and  more,  were  it  necessary  to  say  more. 
I  will  barely  remark,  in  conclusion,  that  if  you  feel 
aggrieved  at  what  is  here  said,  any  communication  from 
you  will  reach  me  safely  at  this  place."  [Nashville.] 

General  Scott's  rejoinder  to  this  explosion  was  not 
quite  so  philosophical  as  his  first  letter  had  been.  He 
was  irritated.  Jackson's  intimation  of  readiness  to 
afford  him  "satisfaction"  struck  him  as  ridiculous.  And 
in  his  reference  to  it  he  went  close  to  the  outer  verge 
of  courtesy.  There  the  affair  ended;  and  when  the  two 
men  met  in  Washington,  six  years  afterward,  their 
prompt  reconciliation  proved  that  the  hand  of  time  had 
smoothed  the  wrinkled  front  of  war. 

The  Jackson-Adair  correspondence  may  be  disposed 
of  without  quotation.  Suffice  to  say  that  it  was  con- 
ducted in  a  vein  to  be  expected  of  an  exasperated  Ken- 
tuckian  and  an  infuriated  Tennesseean  in  conflict  over 
a  matter  in  which  one  considered  the  honor  of  his  State 
and  the  other  his  own  honor  assailed.  It  spent  all  its 
force  in  ink  at  very  long  range,  and  the  two  old  heroes 
of  New  Orleans  forgot  it  all  and  renewed  their  life- 
time friendship  at  their  first  meeting  face  to  face  there- 
after. 

We  may  now  pass  to  consideration  of  affairs  that 
really  belong  to  history. 

The  Peace  of  Ghent  had  not  changed  the  conditions 
in  Spanish  Florida.  The  Indians  there — Seminoles  and 
refugee  Creeks — remained  as  bitterly  and  as  implacably 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO      iii 

hostile  as  ever.  They  were  re-enforced  by  a  considerable 
number  of  negroes,  most  of  whom  were  escaped  slaves 
from  Georgia  and  Louisiana  during  the  war  or  de- 
scendants of  fugitives  from  the  revolutions  in  San 
Domingo.  The  inevitable  Colonel  Nicholls  had,  indeed, 
gone  to  England  some  time  after  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty — say,  about  August,  1815 — carrying  with  him 
a  number  of  Seminole  and  fugitive  Creek  chiefs  together 
with  a  ''treaty"  between  the  British  Government  and 
those  Indians,  negotiated  by  himself,  which  he  asked 
the  British  Foreign  Office  to  ratify.  The  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  Earl  Bathurst,  refused  even  to  receive 
Nicholls,  much  less  to  entertain  his  proposals.  ''A  most 
singular  proposition,"  he  exclaimed,  "that  the  British 
Government  should  be  asked  to  ratify  a  treaty  with 
Indians  under  the  sovereignty  of  Spain,  to  be  offensive 
and  defensive  as  against  the  United  States,  when  Great 
Britain  is  at  peace  with  both!" 

This  was  sound  doctrine.  But  English  statesmen  had 
begun  to  learn  some  things.  Among  them  was  the  fact 
that  "alliances  offensive  and  defensive"  with  American 
savages  against  the  United  States  were  not  only  un- 
profitable, but  entailed  subsequent  burdens.  The  ex- 
periment had  been  tried  in  the  Revolution  and  again 
in  the  war  of  1812,  with  the  result  that  Canada  was 
full  of  homeless  Indians  dependent  on  the  King's  charity 
to  keep  them  from  starvation.  Still,  in  point  of  political 
morals,  the  treaty  of  Nicholls  with  the  prophet  Francis 
and  Himollomico  just  after  the  war  of  1812  was  no 
more  impudent  than  the  treaty  of  McKee  and  Proctor 
with  Tecumseh  just  before  it.  The  only  difference  was 
that  Lord  Liverpool  ratified  the  latter  and  Lord  Bath- 


112       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

urst  refused  to  even  receive  the  negotiator  of  the  former. 
But  this  difference  was  the  exact  measure  of  the  educa- 
tional effect  produced  by  events  between  the  spring  of 
1812  and  the  autumn  of  181 5  upon  the  British  official 
mind — such  events,  for  example,  as  the  battle  of  the 
Thames  and  the  Horseshoe  Bend. 

Nicholls  was  no  new  figure  at  Whitehall  or  in  Down- 
ing Street  either.  He  had  been  an  officer  of  marines 
and  was  British  agent  in  Spanish  Florida  from  the  fall 
of  1812  to  the  middle  of  181 5.  Arms  furnished  to  the 
Creeks  by  the  British  Government  through  him  had 
been  used  in  the  massacre  at  Fort  Mims.  Helpless 
w^omen  and  children  had  been  scalped  there  with  British 
knives  after  British  hatchets  had  been  sunk  in  their 
heads.  And  Nicholls  had  been  the  British  instigator. 
But  now  his  occupation  seem'ed  gone. 

Lord  Bathurst's  estimate  of  Nicholls  and  his  treaty 
in  September,  181 5,  is  interesting.  To  our  minister  at 
London,  John  Quincy  Adams,  he  said  this  affair  need 
not  be  noticed.  Neither  Mr.  Nicholls  nor  his  acts  of 
^'unequivocal  and  extraordinary  hostility  toward  the 
United  States,"  as  Mr.  Adams  characterized  them,  were 
any  concern  of  the  British  Government. 

''Colonel  Nicholls,"  said  his  lordship,  "is  a  man  of 
activity  *  and  spirit,  but  a  very  wild  fellow.  He  did 
make  and  send  over  to  me  a  treaty,  offensive  and  de- 
fensive, with  some  Indians;  and  he  is  now  come  over 
here  and  has  brought  over  some  of  those  Indians.     I 

*  There  was  always  some  question  about  Colonel  NichoUs's  "spirit,"  but 
none  whatever  about  his  "activity"  when  he  evacuated  and  blew  up  Fort 
Barrancas  at  Jackson's  approach  in  1814.  Nicholls  knew  his  business. 
Jackson  intended  to  hang  him  if  he  had  caught  him  in  1 814,  just  as  he  hanged 
his  legatee,  Arbuthnot,  in  1818. 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO      113 

sent  for  answer  that  he  had  no  authority  whatever  to 
make  a  treaty  offensive  or  defensive  with  Indians  and 
that  this  government  would  make  no  such  treaty.  I 
have  sent  him  word  that  I  could  not  see  him  upon  any 
such  project.  The  Indians  are  here  in  great  distress 
indeed,  but  we  shall  only  furnish  them  with  means  of 
returning  home  and  advise  them  to  make  terms  with 
the  United  States  as  well  as  they  can." 

Lord  Bathurst  relieved  the  "distress"  of  the  Indians 
by  making  Francis  a  colonel  in  the  British  army  (colonial 
establishment),  with  full  uniform;  with  a  diamond- 
studded  snuff-box,  a  gold-mounted  tomahawk,  and 
some  jewels  for  his  daughters,  and  £500  in  gold,  pre- 
sented by  the  British  Government — perhaps  while  his 
lordship  was  entertaining  Mr.  Adams.  The  latter,  ac- 
cording to  his  invariable  custom,  believed  everything  the 
British  diplomat  told  him.  He  did  not  seem  to  recollect 
that  Nicholls  had  the  use  of  a  British  frigate  to  bring 
himself  and  his  Indians  over,  and  he  apparently  paid  no 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Indians  were  sent  back  in 
the  Argus  sloop-of-war  that  had  been  captured  from 
the  Americans  during  the  w^ar.  As  will  soon  be  ob- 
served. General  Jackson  did  not  coincide  with  the  Brit- 
ish view  of  Francis.  When  he  got  hold  of  that  chief 
there  was  "great  distress"  indeed. 

Nicholls  prudently  remained  in  England.  But  his 
tools  whom  he  had  trained,  such  as  Arbuthnot,  Ambris- 
ter,  the  negro  Gargon,  Hambly,*  Woodbine,  et  al.,  car- 

*  Hambly  was  a  shrewd  fellow.  With  a  foresight  that  was  creditable  to  his 
sagacity,  he  offered  his  services  to  General  Jackson  in  the  capacity  of  spy  and 
his  overtures  were  accepted.  In  that  role  he  proved  faithful.  To  him  the 
General  was  indebted  for  information  that  probably  could  never  have  been 
gained  from  any  other  source — information  not  only  of  great  value  in  the 
Vol.  II.— 8 


114       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

ried  on  the  work  he  had  begun,  the  work  he  himself 
now  considered  too  dangerous  to  pursue.  At  the  elev- 
enth hour  the  British  Government,  through  Earl  Bath- 
urst,  washed  its  hands  of  the  whole  business;  but  its 
deluded  tools  kept  on  until  their  necks  paid  the  forfeit 
— or  as  many  of  them  as  Jackson  could  catch. 

From  1815  to  1818  these  conditions  produced  a  desul- 
tory border  warfare  on  the  frontier  of  Florida,  Georgia 
and  Alabama.  Its  details  are  exceedingly  prolix,  com- 
plicated and,  to  some  extent,  confused.  Generally  speak- 
ing, it  was  a  succession  of  murders  and  small  massacres 
on  one  side  and  indecisive  or  abortive  "expeditions"  on 
the  other.  Brigadier-General  Gaines  commanded  the 
military  district  involved,  which  formed  part  of  Jack- 
son's Southern  Division. 

At  the  beginning  of  18 18,  however,  General  Jackson 
made  up  his  mind  that  the  time  had  arrived  for  de- 
cisive action.  General  Gaines  was  a  mediocre  soldier 
of  method  and  precision,  but  not  calculated  for  the  kind 
of  work  Jackson  contemplated  or  for  the  risks  Jackson 
knew  must  be  taken.  So  he  resolved  to  take  command 
on  the  Florida  frontier  in  person.  Under  date  of  Janu- 
ary 6,  18 1 8,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  President  Monroe,  the 
tenor  of  which  may  be  inferred  from  a  very  brief  extract. 
After  a  concise  summary  of  the  situation,  he  said : 

"Let  it  be  signified  to  me  through  any  channel,  say 
Mr.  J.  Rhea  [member  of  Congress  from  Tennessee  and 
one  of  the  General's  closest  friends],  that  the  possession 

campaign  itself,  but  of  momentous  weight  in  the  subsequent  investigation  of 
Jackson's  conduct  by  the  Cabinet  and  Congress.  He  was  afterward  em- 
ployed as  a  Spanish  and  Indian  interpreter,  became  an  American  citizen 
upon  the  annexation  of  Florida,  and  remained  there  during  the  rest  of  his 
life. 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO      115 

of  the  Floridas  would  be  desirable  to  the  United  States, 
and  in  sixty  days  it  will  be  accomplished." 

Jackson  had  already  taken  Florida  in  thirty  days,  so 
he  was  now  quite  warranted  in  the  belief  that  he  could 
do  it  again  in  sixty. 

This  request  had  a  curious  history.  Mr.  Monroe  was 
too  ill  to  transact  executive  business  when  he  received 
this  letter,  but  he  read  it.  Then  he  handed  it  to  Mr. 
Calhoun  (Secretary  of  War),  who  returned  it  with  the 
remark  that  no  one  but  the  President  could  answer  it 
— or  words  to  that  effect.  Shortly  afterward  the  Pres- 
ident sent  for  Mr.  John  Rhea,  laid  Jackson's  letter  be- 
fore him  and  requested  him  to  write  a  reply.  Mr.  Rhea 
did  so,  and  in  his  reply  stated  to  General  Jackson  that 
the  President  approved  the  suggestion.  In  the  mean- 
time, the  War  Department,  by  direction  of  the  President, 
under  date  of  December  26,  18 17,  had  formally  ordered 
General  Jackson  to  assume  command  in  person  on  the 
Florida  frontier.  General  Gaines  had  estimated  the 
effective  hostile  force — Seminoles,  Creeks  and  negroes 
— at  about  2,700,  well-armed  and  having  an  abundance 
of  ammunition. 

The  order  to  General  Jackson,  among  other  things, 
contained  these  words : 

*'The  regular  force  now  there  is  about  800  strong,  and 
1,000  Georgia  militia  are  called  into  service.  General 
Gaines  estimates  the  strength  of  the  Indians  at  2,700. 
Should  you  be  of  the  opinion  that  our  numbers  are  too 
small  to  beat  the  enemy,  you  will  call  on  the  executives 
of  the  adjacent  States  for  such  additional  militia  force 
as  you  may  deem  requisite." 

The  Secretary  of  War  also  wrote  to  the  governor 


ii6       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

of  Alabama,  informing  him  that  General  Jackson  had 
been  ordered  to  command  in  person,  with  full  author- 
ity to  conduct  the  operations  as  his  judgment  on  the 
spot  might  dictate.  A  copy  of  this  letter  was  also 
sent  to  Jackson,  though  it  did  not  reach  him  until  some 
time  after  he  had  acted  on  the  orders  of  the  War  De- 
partment, which  he  considered  sufficient  authority  for 
all  the  objects  he  had  in  view. 

''Billy"  Phillips  was  no  longer  "the  President's  express- 
rider"  of  1812.  He  was  now  an  esteemed  personal  friend 
and  neighbor  of  General  Jackson  and  a  prosperous  plant- 
er near  Nashville.  Therefore  the  orders  of  the  War 
Department  did  not  reach  Jackson  until  January  nth — 
fifteen  days  from  Washington.  Of  course  the  General 
knew  that  his  letter  of  January  6th  had  not  reached  the 
President.  But  he  assumed  the  Secretary  of  War's 
order  of  December  26th  to  mean  that  the  administration 
viewed  the  situation  just  as  he  did,  and  he  was  glad 
to  have  his  purpose  so  opportunely  anticipated.  When 
Andrew  Jackson  had  a  patriotic  object  in  view  he  needed 
less  encouragement  to  set  about  accomplishing  it  than 
any  other  man  in  our  history.  And,  when  so  actuated, 
he  could  construe  the  most  diplomatically  framed  de- 
spatch from  his  civil  superior  into  the  most  complete 
and  sweeping  authority  to  go  ahead.  Mr.  Calhoun's 
despatch  of  December  26th  did  indeed  vest  in  the  major- 
general  commanding  extraordinary  power.  But  the 
Major-General  "went  the  Secretary  of  War  one  better." 
He  construed  it  to  mean  carte  blanche.  Mr.  Calhoun 
might  just  as  well  have  sent  to  him  a  blank  sheet  of 
paper  with  his  name  and  the  words,  "by  direction  of 
the  President,"  at  the  bottom  of  it. 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO      117 

Subsequent  proceedings  lead  us  to  believe  that  Mr. 
Calhoun  and  the  President  divined  all  these  things — 
"knowing  their  man"  as  they  did.  They  wanted  the 
Indians  and  the  negro  brigands  crushed  for  all  time; 
they  knew  that  could  not  be  done  without  an  invasion 
of  Florida.  They  desired  to  maintain  an  attitude  that 
would  enable  them,  in  case  of  diplomatic  embarrass- 
ment, to  shift  the  responsibility  upon  Jackson.  He  knev/ 
this  as  well  as  they  did,  but  he  did  not  care  about  that. 
All  he  wanted  was  some  semblance — something  that  he 
could  construe  into  an  appearance — of  authority.  As 
for  the  rest,  he  despised  Spain  and  he  hated  England. 
To  any  student  of  his  character,  the  rest  of  the  story 
tells  itself. 

His  first  act  was  to  survey  the  components  of  the 
force  at  his  disposal  on  the  frontier.  The  ''eight  hun- 
dred regulars"  were  good — what  there  was  of  them — 
but  they  were  too  few.  As  for  the  ''thousand  Georgia 
militia,"  the  prospect  of  relying  upon  them  did  not 
please  him.  He  knew  they  would  be  enrolled  for  only 
three  months.  The  Creek  war  had  given  him  all  the 
experience  he  wanted  with  that  kind  of  soldiery.  Be- 
sides, while  the  Creek  war  was  at  its  height,  some 
Georgia  militia  had  fallen  back  on  the  old  law  of  1795 
and  refused  to  serve  outside  the  State.  Such  troops 
would  hardly  answer  the  purpose  of  an  army  of  in- 
vasion, not  only  "outside  the  State,"  but  actually  upon 
foreign  soil.  No,  Georgia  militia  would  not  do.  For 
the  rest,  Tennessee  was  "an  adjacent  State."  At  all 
events,  as  Alabama  was  still  a  Territory,  Tennessee  was, 
except  Georgia,  the  nearest  State  to  Spanish  Florida. 
He  therefore  felt  empowered  by  the  orders  of  the  War 


ii8       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Department  to  ''call  upon  the  executive  of  Tennessee 
for  such  additional  militia,"  etc.  But  the  governor  of 
Tennessee  was  absent  from  the  State  and  could  not  be 
immediately  reached.  History  has  it  that  the  governor 
was  visiting  the  Cherokees.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
was  out  on  a  grand  hunt  in  North  Georgia.  However, 
he  would  approve  anything  that  Jackson  might  do  in 
his  absence.  Though  major-general  in  the  regular 
army,  Jackson  was  still  the  same  political  ''Boss"  of 
Tennessee  he  had  always  been.  He  did  not  nominate 
and  elect  governors  to  have  them  "go  back  on  him"  in 
dire  emergencies  such  as  this  was. 

Therefore  he  forthwith  raised  1,200  volunteers — not 
militia — "by  virtue  of  orders  from  the  Secretary  of 
War,"  enlisted  them  for  six  months  and  had  them  in 
rendezvous,  at  Fayetteville,  tlie  31st  of  January.  He 
also  had  collected  there,  by  the  same  authority,  thirty 
days'  supplies  of  food,  with  transportation.  Of  these 
1,200  volunteers,  at  least  800  were  veterans  of  the  Creek 
war  or  the  Louisiana  campaign,  or  both.  Every  man 
had  his  own  rifle  and  rode  his  own  horse.  Jackson 
supplied  ammunition  and  camp  equipage  from  the  Unit- 
ed States  stores  at  his  command.  When  all  was  ready 
he  appointed  Colonel  Arthur  P.  Hayne  United  States 
Army  Inspector-General  of  the  Southern  Military  Divis- 
ion, to  command  the  force,  with  orders  to  march  to 
Fort  Jackson.  There  they  were  to  draw  fresh  supplies 
and  march  to  Fort  Scott,  on  the  frontier,  which  would 
be  his  base  of  operations. 

Jackson  himself,  as  soon  as  these  preparations  were 
assured,  had  left  his  home  for  the  front  on  January  22d, 
nine  days  ahead  of  Hayne's  column.     The  General  took 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO      119 

his  route  from  Nashville  to  Fort  Scott  through  upper 
Alabama  and  Georgia  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  force 
of  friendly  Creeks  under  the  half-breed  chief,  William 
Mcintosh.  Some  time  before  this,  Mcintosh,  on  Jack- 
son's recommendation,  had  been  commissioned  a  colonel 
in  the  regular  army  and  brevet  brigadier-general. 

After  many  vicissitudes,  numerous  disappointments 
and  some  severe  hardships,  Jackson  reached  Fort  Scott 
the  9th  of  March.  He  found  the  place  destitute  of 
supplies  and  his  force  in  danger  of  starvation.  Leaving 
orders  for  the  Tennesseeans  under  Hayne  and  the  friend- 
ly Creeks  under  Mcintosh  to  follow  him,  he  pushed 
on  with  1,080  men  down  the  Appalachicola  to  Prospect 
Bluff — site  of  ''Negro  Fort"  blown  up  the  year  before. 
Here  he  built  Fort  Gadsden  and  here  the  supplies  sent 
by  sea  from  New  Orleans  reached  his  hungry  army. 
Here,  also,  Colonel  Hayne's  Tennesseeans  and  Mcin- 
tosh's Indians — about  1,000  strong — joined  him.  These 
re-enforcements  brought  his  strength  up  to  about  2,800 
or  3,000,  of  whom,  say,  600  were  regulars,  1,000  Ten- 
nessee volunteers,  400  Georgia  volunteers  *  and  800  or 
900  Indians  under  Mcintosh. 

At  Fort  Gadsden  the  General  waited  several  days  to 
rest  his  troops  and  perfect  his  supply  system.  The  Ten- 
nessee volunteers  under  Colonel  Hayne,  compelled  as 
they  had  been  to  take  a  roundabout  route  through  west- 
ern Georgia,  had  marched  nearly  a  thousand  miles  be- 
tween January  31st  and  March  20th,  much  of  the  way 
through  trackless  forests,  across  bridgeless  rivers  swollen 

*  These  were  all  out  of  the  thousand  Georgia  militia  enrolled  who 
would  volunteer  to  leave  the  State.  They  were  mustered  as  United  States 
volunteers  to  serve  six  months.  Jackson  had  no  authority  to  muster 
United  States  volunteers,  but  he  did  it. 


I20       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

with  spring  floods,  and  all  the  time  on  short  allowance. 
Something  of  the  fibre  they  were  made  of  may  be 
learned  from  a  paragraph  of  Colonel  Hayne's  report 
announcing  the  arrival  of  his   column: 

''In  conclusion,  the  colonel  in  command  is  happy  to 
report  that  there  is  no  sickness  among  the  troops  and 
no  men  have  lagged  behind  except  a  few  whose  horses 
gave  out.  These  are  following  on  foot  and  may  be 
expected  to  join  the  force  in  a  few  days." 

On  March  26th  the  General  started  with  his  whole 
command  for  St.  IMarks.  Progress  was  slow.  Nu- 
merous skirmishes  occurred,  the  fighting  on  the  Amer- 
ican side  being  done  mainly  by  Mcintosh's  friendly 
Indians,  who  held  the  advance  all  the  time. 

The  army  reached  St.  Marks  April  6th,  and  the  Gen- 
eral halted  in  sight  of  the  town  to  communicate  in  a 
friendly  way  with  the  Spanish  governor. 

The  material  part  of  his  ''friendly  communication" 
was  a  demand  for  surrender  of  Fort  St.  Marks,  with 
an  assurance  that  the  American  forces  appeared  on  Span- 
ish territory  not  as  the  enemy  of  Spain,  but  to  chastise 
and  subdue  a  horde  of  savages  whom  "the  Spanish  gar- 
rison, from  the  smallness  of  its  numbers,''  was  not  able 
to  control.     The  communication  concluded  as  follows : 

"The  subject  of  my  possession  of  the  garrison  of  St. 
Marks  will  be  referred  to  our  respective  governments 
for  amicable  adjustment." 

The  governor's  reply  set  forth  that,  for  want  of  a 
competent  translator,  he  could  not  fully  understand  the 
General's  letter.  As  to  the  surrender  of  the  fort,  he  had 
no  authority  for  such  action  and  must  refer  the  demand 
to  the  governor-general.     Florida  was  then  under  the 


HONORS    FOR    A    NATIONAL    HERO      121 

jurisdiction  of  the  governor-general  of  Cuba.  It  would 
take  some  time  to  communicate  with  Havana.  General 
Jackson,  therefore,  decided  to  relieve  the  polite  governor 
of  all  responsibility,  and  with  that  object  in  view  took 
possession  of  Fort  St.  Marks  that  same  afternoon,  with- 
out opposition  except  a  formal  protest  from  the  Spanish 
governor.  The  first  act  in  the  serio-comic  drama  of 
General  Jackson's  "unauthorized"  invasion  of  Spanish 
territory  in  time  of  peace,  with  troops  in  pay  and  under 
the  flag  of  the  United  States,  was  done.  The  second 
act  proved,  in  some  respects,  more  interesting. 


CHAPTER   V 

GOVERNOR    OF   FLORIDA 

The  second  stage  of  the  Florida  campaign  had  for 
its  overture  a  romance  and  a  tragedy.  During  the 
period  reviewed  in  the  previous  chapter  the  Indians 
captured  near  Fowltown  a  Georgia  mihtiaman  named 
Duncan  McKrimmon,  while  he  was  some  distance  from 
camp  engaged  in  fishing.  He  was  taken  to  the  prophet 
Francis's  town,  near  Fort  St.  Marks,  and  there  con- 
demned to  be  burned  at  the  stake  in  revenge  for  four 
warriors  killed  in  the  skirmish  at  Fowltown.  The 
legend  is — and  it  seems  authentic — that,  just  as  the 
fagots  about  his  limbs  were  being  kindled,  a  young 
daughter  of  Francis,  about  fifteen  years  old,  assumed 
the  role  of  Pocahontas  and  prevailed  on  her  father  to 
spare  McKrimmon's  life. 

Soon  afterward  the  chief,  annoyed  by  his  warriors, 
who  still  clamored  for  their  victim,  placed  the  Georgian 
in  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  commandant  at  Fort  St. 
Marks  for  safe  keeping.  Not  long  afterward  an  armed 
schooner  and  two  small  merchant  ships  appeared  in  St. 
Marks  Bay  with  English  colors  flying.  McKrimmon, 
who  had  been  all  the  time  apprehensive  that  the  Indians 
would  compel  the  Spanish  commandant  to  give  him  up 
to  them  again  for  torture,  asked  to  be  sent  on  board  one 
of  the  British  ships,  where  he  knew  he  would  be  safe. 

122 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  123 

This  request  was  granted.  When  McKrimmon  reached 
the  deck  of  the  armed  schooner,  he  was  overjoyed  to 
find  her  American  and  to  meet  Lieutenant  McKeever, 
of  the  United  States  navy,  in  command.  McKrimmon, 
who  was  an  intelHgent  and  presentable  young  man,  told 
his  story  briefly  and  then  informed  McKeever  that 
Francis  and  Himollomico,  a  Seminole  chief,  were  en- 
camped three  or  four  miles  away  waiting  for  English 
vessels  to  bring  them  arms  and  ammunition  from  Nas- 
sau, New  Providence  Island. 

McKeever,  acting  under  instructions  sent  to  him  from 
Fort  Gadsden  by  General  Jackson,  had  come  round  from 
Appalachicola  Bay  to  St.  Marks  to  meet  the  army  at 
the  latter  place  with  the  supplies  brought  from  New 
Orleans  by  water.  He  was  a  bold,  enterprising  young 
officer,  and  had  greatly  distinguished  himself  as  second- 
in-command  to  Ap  Catesby  Jones  in  the  desperate  de- 
fence of  the  gun-boats  on  Lake  Borgne.  He  now  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  decoying  the  chiefs  on  board  his 
schooner.  Standing  up  the  bay  toward  the  fort,  with 
a  profusion  of  English  colors  flying,  he  soon  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  a  canoe  put  off  from  the  shore. 
As  it  approached  he  saw  that  its  occupants  were  two 
Indians,  both  wearing  British  uniform  coats,  and  two 
negroes  paddling.  McKrimmon,  taking  the  pilot-glass, 
at  once  informed  him  that  the  Indians  were  the  two 
chiefs. 

When  they  came  aboard,  McKeever  invited  them  to 
his  cabin,  whither  half  a  dozen  sailors,  previously  se- 
lected for  that  duty,  followed  them,  carrying  handcuffs. 
The  chiefs  were  at  once  seized  and  put  in  irons,  but 
not  without  a  desperate  struggle,  in  which  the  lieutenant 


124      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

found  it  necessary  to  knock  Himollomico  nearly  sense- 
less with  the  butt  of  a  heavy  boarding-pistol. 

Shortly  after  the  chiefs  were  secured  Francis  noticed 
McKrimmon.  **I  save -your  life,"  he  said  in  English. 
"You  betray  me." 

"No,"  replied  the  late  captive,  "your  daughter  saved 
my  life;  and  the  officer  would  have  caught  you  anyhow. 
But  if  I  can  do  anything  for  you,  I  will,  for  Malee's  * 
sake." 

While  this  was  going  on  another  canoe  approached 
the  schooner,  having  an  Indian  girl  in  the  bow  and  a 
warrior  at  the  stern  paddling.  Just  as  McKrimmon 
was  able  to  recognize  the  girl  through  the  glass  as 
Malee  herself,  the  canoe  put  about  and  made  for  the 
shore,  its  occupants  effecting  their  escape  notwithstand- 
ing close  pursuit  by  one  of  the  schooner's  boats.  When 
she  reached  the  land,  Malee  seized  the  warrior's  rifle 
and  fired  at  the  pursuing  boat.  Her  bullet  passed  under 
the  left  arm  of  the  coxswain  and  lodged  in  the  rudder- 
head,  missing  the  man's  side  by  not  more  than  an  inch. 
Malee  and  the  warrior  then  escaped  into  the  woods  and 
the  boat's  crew  returned  to  the  vessel.  This  was  part 
of  the  romance. f     Then  came  the  tragedy. 

*  Malee  was  the  girl's  Indian  name  ;  but  the  school-books  and  pictorial 
histories  usually  have  it  "Milly." 

t  When  General  Jackson  withdrew  from  Florida  he  left  garrisons  at  Pen- 
sacola  and  St.  Marks,  and  gave  command  of  the  district  to  Colonel  Arbuckle, 
of  the  Seventh  Infantr}',  with  head-quarters  at  the  latter  place.  The  colonel 
employed  McKrimmon  as  a  clerk.  The  young  Georgian  learned  that  Malee 
— or  Milly — Francis  had  been  impoverished  by  the  destruction  of  her  father's 
village  and  was  living  with  an  Indian  family  about  seven  miles  up  the  river. 
She  came  to  the  fort  and  asked  him  to  intercede  with  the  colonel  for  the 
restoration  of  her  father's  property,  consisting  principally  of  slaves  and  cattle. 
But  the  slaves  had  run  away  into  the  swamps  and  the  cattle  had  been  taken 
for  the  use  of  the  army.     McKrimmon  then  offered  to  marry  her  and  provide 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  125 

That  same  night  General  Jackson  communicated  with 
Lieutenant  McKeever  and  the  chiefs  were  sent  ashore 
the  next  morning.  The  General,  upon  being  satisfied 
of  their  identity,  ordered  them  hanged  without  even  the 
formality  of  a  court-martial :  Francis  for  his  complicity 
in  massacres  during  the  Creek  war  and  for  inciting  the 
fugitive  Creeks  in  Florida;  Himollomico  for  torturing 
Lieutenant  Scott,  who  had  been  captured  some  time  be- 
fore. They  were  hanged  just  outside  the  fort,  under 
the  supervision  of  Lieutenant  Rodgers,  acting  provost- 
marshal. 

General  Jackson  refused  to  listen  to  any  appeal  from 
them.    Francis  had  expressed  a  desire  to  see  the  General. 

for  her  a  home.  She  at  first  refused,  declaring  that  it  was  he  who  gave 
Lieutenant  McKeever  the  information  that  led  to  the  capture  and  execution 
of  her  father.  He  admitted  having  informed  the  Ueutenant  that  her  father 
was  near  the  place,  but  protested  he  had  not  the  remotest  idea  that  General 
Jackson  would  hang  him.  Colonel  Arbuckle's  family,  who  joined  him  at 
the  fort,  took  an  interest  in  the  girl  and  gave  her  many  presents  of  food  and 
clothing.  They  also  advised  her  to  accept  McKrimmon.  Finally  she  con- 
sented and  they  were  married  by  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  at  Fort  Scott. 
They  lived  pleasandy  together  nearly  twenty  years.  After  the  annexation 
of  Florida  to  the  United  States,  McKrimmon  took  up  land  on  the  Suwanee, 
below  the  old  Indian  town,  and  made  a  fine  plantation.  He  died  about 
1838,  leaving  Milly  with  eight  children.  One  story  ran  to  the  effect  that 
he  was  assassinated  by  the  then  hostile  Seminoles.  Destruction  of  the  crops 
and  catde  of  the  plantation  and  the  loss  of  her  slaves  during  the  Seminole 
war  of  1837-40  reduced  Milly  to  poverty  again  and  she  soon  afterward 
died.  Most  of  her  children  cast  their  lot  with  the  white  people  and  remained 
in  Florida,  though  at  least  two  of  her  sons  went  with  the  Creeks  to  the  Indian 
Territory.  Her  four  daughters  are  said  to  have  married  white  men.  The 
children  were  quarter-breeds,  Milly  herself  being  half  white. 

Captain  Rodgers,  of  the  Tennessee  Volunteers,  and  Mrs.  Gibson,  wife 
of  Major  Gibson,  U.  S.  A.,  have  left  written  descriptions  of  her  as  she  ap- 
peared in  i8i9-'20,  which  represent  her  as  being  exceedingly  handsome, 
very  sprightly  and  conversing  well  in  English  and  Spanish  besides  her  native 
tongue.  She  is  often  mentioned  in  history  as  a  Seminole,  but  both  her 
father  and  mother  were  half-breed  Creeks,  her  mother  being  a  half-sister  to 
the  great  chief  Weatherford. 


126       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Just  before  the  rope  was  tightened  he  dropped  a  scalp- 
ing-knife  from  his  sleeve  and  explained  that  his  design 
was  to  assassinate  Jackson  had  he  been  admitted  to  his 
presence.  Himollomico  requested  that  he  might  be  shot 
like  a  man  instead  of  being  hanged  like  a  dog.  This  was 
reported  to  the  General  by  Hambly,  now  acting  as  inter- 
preter. "No,"  said  Jackson;  "let  him  hang.  I  will  be 
more  merciful  to  him  than  he  was  to  poor  Scott  and  the 
soldiers  and  women  of  the  Fourth!''  [Meaning  the 
Fourth  United  States  Infantry,  to  which  the  officer  and 
others  belonged,  and  upon  whom  the  doomed  chief  had 
inflicted  horrible  tortures.] 

In  Fort  St.  Marks  Jackson  found  Alexander  Arbuth- 
not.  He  was  a  Scotch  trader  from  New  Providence, 
and  had  supplied  the  Indians  with  arms,  ammunition, 
blankets  and  other  articles  of, savage  traffic.  Hambly 
and  Cook,  former  proteges  of  Nicholls  and  latterly  clerks 
or  junior  partners  in  the  trading  firm  of  Forbes  &  Com- 
pany, were  the  informers  against  Arbuthnot.  At  first 
the  Scotch  trader  was  placed  in  close  confinement,  the 
General  deciding  to  await  development  of  more — or 
better — evidence  before  proceeding  to  extreme  meas- 
ures. 

Over  a  hundred  miles  from  St.  Marks  was  the  prin- 
cipal town  of  the  Seminoles,  known  as  Suwanee.  It 
was  built  on  the  right  or  west  bank  of  the  river  of  the 
same  name — immortalized  in  song.  Between  it  and  St. 
Marks  stretched  a  flat,  heavily  wooded  country,  mostly 
swamps,  which  the  Indians  considered  wholly  impassable 
by  white  men  in  any  considerable  force.  The  chief  of 
this  town  was  Boleck — sometimes  spelled  "Bowlock" — 
but  better  known  to  history  by  the  traders'   sobriquet. 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  127 

**Billy  Bowlegs."  The  population  was  a  medley  of  In- 
dians, negro  brigands  and  mixed  breeds  of  all  kinds  and 
colors,  numbering  about  2,000,  and  they  carried  on  a 
considerable  tillage  of  corn  and  fruits,  besides  raising 
herds  of  cattle  and  many  hogs.  The  houses  were  gen- 
erally built  of  logs  or  bark  and,  for  the  time  and  place, 
were  quite  commodious. 

General  Jackson  stayed  at  St.  Marks  only  forty-eight 
hours.  Then,  rationing  his  troops  for  ten  days  and 
stripping  his  column  to  light  marching  order,  he  set 
out  across  the  supposed  impassable  swamps  for  Suwanee, 
April  9th.  On  the  13th,  Mcintosh  overtook  and  de- 
feated about  200  Seminoles  and  negroes  under  Peter 
McQueen,  killing  thirty-seven  and  taking  104  prisoners, 
all  but  six  of  whom  were  women  and  children.  The 
friendly  Creeks  of  Mcintosh's  command  also  took,  as 
that  chief  said  in  his  report,  *'about  700  cattle,  a  num- 
ber of  horses,  a  good  many  hogs  and  some  corn.    .    .    ." 

Among  the  prisoners  was  a  woman  who  had  been 
taken  in  the  boat  with  Scott's  party,  she  being  the  only 
one  spared.  Mcintosh  sent  her  to  her  husband  and 
father,  who  w^ere  with  General  Jackson's  army  in  the 
Georgia  volunteers. 

About  nightfall  on  the  i6th  the  army  reached  Su- 
wanee, but  most  of  the  Indians  had  escaped.  They  had 
been  warned  by  a  letter  from  Arbuthnot  to  his  son,  a 
trader  at  Suwanee,  written  the  day  before  Jackson's  army 
took  St.  Marks.  Nearly  3,000  bushels  of  corn  were 
taken  and  quite  a  number  of  cattle  and  horses.  The 
army  rested  two  days  at  the  deserted  town,  which  was 
destroyed. 

During  the  night  of  April  iSt-h,  Robert  C.  Ambrister, 


128       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

with  another  white  man,  named  Cook,  and  two  negroes, 
were  captured.  They  had  come  up  the  river  during  the 
day  and,  unaware  of  what  had  happened,  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Jackson's  pickets  a  little  before  midnight.  Am- 
brister  was  a  nephew  of  Governor  Cameron,  of  the 
Bahamas,  and  had  been  a  lieutenant  of  marines  in  the 
British  navy.  He  was  one  of  the  British  officers  who 
organized  and  drilled  the  refugee  Creeks  under  Nicholls, 
when  Jackson  first  invaded  Florida  in  1814.  He  was 
placed  under  close  guard  of  a  sergeant's  file  of  men, 
who  had  orders  to  shoot  him  if  he  attempted  to 
escape. 

When  the  army  returned  to  St.  Marks,  arriving  there 
the  226.  and  23d  of  April,  Ambrister  was  placed  in  the 
same  cell  with  Arbuthnot,  and  General  Jackson  appoint- 
ed a  court-martial  to  try  them  for  various  capital  offences 
set  forth  in  charges  and  specifications.  General  Gaines 
was  president  of  the  court-martial,  which  consisted  of 
twelve  other  officers  besides  the  recorder.  The  court  sat 
two  days,  and  on  April  28th  returned  findings  and  sen- 
tence that  Alexander  Arbuthnot  be  hanged  and  Robert 
C.  Ambrister  shot  to  death  for  inciting  Indians  to  make 
war  upon  the  United  States  and  for  aiding  and  abetting 
the  said  Indians  in  acts  of  war  and  murder  against  peace- 
able citizens  of  the  United  States.  But  in  the  case  of 
Ambrister  the  court  reconsidered  the  sentence  of  death 
and  commuted  it  to  ''fifty-nine  lashes  on  the  bare  back 
and  to  be  confined  at  hard  labor  with  ball  and  chain  for 
twelve  calendar  months." 

The  next  day  General  Jackson  reviewed  the  findings, 
approved  that  in  the  case  of  Arbuthnot,  but  disapproved 
the  amended  sentence  of  Ambrister  and  restored  the  first 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  129 

one.  He  then  ordered  Major  Fanning,  of  the  Fourth 
United  States  Artillery,  provost-marshal  of  the  district, 
to  see  that  both  sentences  were  carried  into  effect.  Ar- 
buthnot  was  hanged  from  the  gaff  of  his  own  schooner, 
which  had  been  captured  by  McKeever  and  brought  to 
St.  Marks.  He  died  protesting  innocence,  declaring  that 
he  was  being  murdered  by  the  power  of  the  United 
States,  and  his  last  words  were:  "My  government  will 
avenge  me!" 

Ambrister  was  shot  a  few  minutes  before  the  hanging 
of  Arbuthnot.  He  met  death  with  fortitude  and  made 
no  scene.  He  declared,  however,  that  fate  was  against 
him,  that  he  was  not  conscious  of  having  violated  the 
law  of  nations,  and  that  he  had  never  done  anythin.g 
which  he  did  not  honestly  believe  his  duty  to  his  country 
required  him  to  do. 

Leaving  Fort  St.  Marks,  April  29th,  General  Jackson, 
with  his  army,  arrived  at  Fort  Gadsden  the  26.  of  May. 
Here  he  halted  to  rest  and  refresh  the  troops.  His  force 
now  consisted  only  of  regulars  and  Tennessee  volun- 
teers. Three  companies  of  the  Fourth  Infantry  and  one 
company  of  artillery  had  been  left  at  Fort  St.  Marks. 
The  Georgia  volunteers,  together  with  the  friendly  In- 
dians under  Mcintosh,  had  been  sent  home  at  the  end 
of  the  expedition  to  Suwanee  town.  After  these  deduc- 
tions the  army  at  Fort  Gadsden  was  not  over  1,500  or 
1 ,600  strong ;  say  600  regulars  and  800  to  900  Tennessee 
volunteers.  Here  it  should  be  observed  that  there  were 
two  companies  of  Kentucky  volunteers  in  General  Jack- 
son's army.  They  were  commanded  respectively  by 
Captains  Crittenden  and  Marshall.     There  was  also  a 

small  company  of  Mississippi  volunteers  under  Captain 
Vol.  II.— 9 


130      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Joseph  Bonnell.  These  independent  companies,  how- 
ever, were  incorporated  in  the  two  Tennessee  regiments 
commanded  respectively  by  Colonels  Williamson  and 
Dyer. 

It  was  the  General's  intention,  after  resting  his  troops 
at  Gadsden  a  week  or  so,  to  distribute  the  regulars 
among  the  various  posts  and  then  to  proceed  by  easy 
marches  at  the  head  of  his  Tennesseeans  home  to  Nash- 
ville. With  all  his  modesty  in  other  premises.  General 
Jackson  undeniably  had  a  strong  penchant  for  ''entering 
Nashville  in  triumph." 

He  had  already  issued  to  the  regulars  their  orders  of 
distribution,  and  was  ready  to  march  with  the  Tennes- 
seeans for  Fort  Jackson,  en  route  home,  when,  on  Alay 
17th,  he  received  a  letter  from  the  Spanish  governor. 
Almost  at  the  same  time  he  received  information  from 
Hambly,  whom  he  had  sent  to  Pensacola  on  a  secret 
mission,  that  quite  a  number  of  Indians — mostly  refugee 
Creeks — were  assembled  near  Pensacola.*  Hambly  was 
well  adapted  to  this  kind  of  duty.  The  Spanish  gov- 
ernor, Don  Gonzalez,  had  known  him  only  as  a  former 
clerk  to  Forbes  and  Company,  British  Indian  traders, 
and  a  protege  of  Nicholls,  but  did  not  know  that  he  had 
now  turned  spy  and  informer  to  the  Americans. 

The  Spanish  governor's  letter  was  in  its  tone  militant. 
Among  other  things  he  said : 

"It  having  come  to  my  knowledge  that  .  .  .  you 
are  now  in  the  province  of  West  Florida,  which  is  sub- 
ject to  my  government,  I  solemnly  protest  against  this 

*  In  a  letter  written  soon  afterward  to  Senator  Campbell,  Jackson  places 
the  number  of  these  Indians  at  550.  Hambly's  statement,  in  the  subsequent 
investigation,  is  "about  300  Indians  and  some  200  vagabond  negroes." 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  131 

procedure  as  an  offence  against  my  sovereign,  exhorting 
you  and  requiring  of  you  in  his  name  to  retire  from  it; 
since,  if  you  do  not  retire  but  persist  in  your  aggressions, 
I  shall  repel  force  by  force." 

The  effect  which  the  Spanish  governor  expected  or 
hoped  to  produce  by  this  truculent  language  is  not 
known.  But  the  immediate  result  of  it  was  that  the 
General,  instead  of  marching  to  Fort  Jackson,  marched 
on  Pensacola  with  600  regulars  and  600  Tennesseeans. 
Here  the  General's  private  account  to  Senator  Campbell 
exhibits  a  slight  disagreement  with  his  official  despatches ; 
but  the  discrepancy  relates  to  the  sequence  of  events, 
all  happening  within  a  few  days,  and  does  not  seem 
material  to  the  main  question.  Among  the  things 
concerning  which  Hambly  informed  him — also  corrob- 
orated by  Governor  Bibbs,  of  Alabama — were  that  the 
Indians  seeking  refuge  at  Pensacola  were  fed  by  the 
Spanish  governor,  that  they  had  committed  several  mur- 
ders on  the  frontier,  including  the  family  of  a  Mr.  Stokes, 
and  that  the  governor  himself  had  intercepted  and  de- 
tained the  schooner  Amelia,  laden  with  supplies  for  the 
United  States  troops  at  Fort  Crawford. 

On  May  24th  General  Jackson  entered  Pensacola  at 
the  head  of  his  army.  The  governor  took  refuge  in 
Fort  Barrancas.  General  Jackson  approached  the  fort, 
from  which  a  few  shots  were  fired.  The  General  then 
made  preparations  to  storm  it,  whereupon  the  governor 
surrendered  with  300  Spanish  troops. 

Thus  terminated  the  "Florida  war,"  between  the  In- 
dians, British  agents  and  Spain  on  one  hand  and  General 
Jackson  on  the  other.  There  was,  as  yet,  no  evidence 
that  the  government  of  the  United  States  had  been  in- 


132       HISTORY  OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

volved  in  it  at  all,  except  the  circumstantial  facts  that 
the  General  had  a  few  regular  troops  in  his  army  and 
that  the  regular  navy,  as  represented  by  Lieutenant  Mc- 
Keever,  had  co-operated  in  a  small  way. 

On  the  31st  of  May  the  General  placed  Colonel  Will- 
iam King,  of  the  Fourth  Infantry,  in  command  at  Pen- 
sacola,  with  a  garrison  of  400  regulars,  ordered  Lieu- 
tenant McKeever  to  take  charge  of  the  coast  and  harbor, 
with  instructions  to  permit  no  Indian  supplies  to  be 
landed,  and  made  provision  for  the  comfort  of  the  Span- 
ish governor  and  his  household.  He  then  returned  by 
easy  stages  to  Nashville,  where  the  people  received  him 
with  the  usual  public  banquet,  toasts  and  applause. 

General  Jackson  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity 
afforded  by  the  banquet  to  "declare  his  platform"  in  the 
shape  of  a  ''volunteer  toast,"*  the  significance  of  which 
became  soon  afterward  a  matter  of  national  interest : 

''Our  Country! — Though  forbearance  is  her  maxim, 
she  must  show  to  foreign  nations  that,  under  a  pre- 
tence OF  NEUTRALITY,  her  rights  are  not  to  be  out- 
raged!" 

This  was  the  24th  of  June,  18 18.  From  that  time  on 
the  Florida  war  became  the  staple  topic  of  American 
journalism.  The  newspapers  needed  a  live  topic.  Mr. 
Monroe's  administration  afforded  none.  It  seemed  to 
invite  neither  praise  nor  censure.  The  ''Era  of  Good 
Feeling"  was  in  the  last  degree  unfavorable  to  news- 
paper enterprise.  The  demand  for  great  Columbian  elo- 
quence had  ceased.  The  impassioned  oratory  that  stirs 
men's  souls  was  an  utter  drug  in  the  patriotic  market. 
General  Jackson  afforded  a  welcome  relief  to  this  pro- 
longed   intellectual    drouth,    this    editorial    arid    season. 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  133 

Party  lines  had  almost  ceased  to  exist.  Old  political 
divisions  were  nearly  extinct.  Federalism  had  gone  to 
its  tomb,  along  with  Tecumseh  and  Pakenham,  in  the 
war  of  18 1 2.  Its  ghost  still  stalked  abroad  now  and 
then  producing  nightmares  like  the  Hartford  Conven- 
tion, but  its  substance  was  dust  and  ashes.  Mr.  Adams 
was  furtively  trying  to  scrape  together  dry  bones  enough 
to  form  a  "nucleus"  against  1824;  but  his  efforts  attract- 
ed no  particular  attention ;  at  all  events,  they  were  not  as 
yet  viewed  with  concern. 

All  these  deficiencies  were  instantly  met  by  Gen- 
eral Jackson.  The  politicians  and  the  able  editors  at 
once  drew  strict  party  lines  over  his  name  and  his  ex- 
ploits. A  presidential  campaign  within  a  fortnight  of 
election  day  could  not  have  been  hotter.  The  furor 
was  by  no  means  confined  within  our  own  boundaries. 
English  statesmen  gathered  with  long  faces  in  cabinet 
council  to  consider  the  execution  of  two  British  subjects 
on  Spanish  soil  by  an  American  general  in  time  of  pro- 
found peace.  English  editors,  from  the  London  Times 
to  the  Halifax  Sentinel,  frothed  at  the  mouth.  The 
Paris  papers,  as  usual,  could  foresee  nothing  but  war 
between  England  and — General  Jackson;  a  war  that 
might,  possibly,  involve  the  United  States!  The  states- 
men and  journals  of  Madrid  for  the  moment  showed 
imminent  signs  of  throwing  off  the  traditional  Spanish 
lethargy.  They,  too,  viewed  General  Jackson  as  the 
prime  enemy  of  the  peace  of  mankind,  but  fancied  that 
somehow,  sooner  or  later,  the  Washington  Government 
might  be  drawn  into  the  vortex. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  year  18 18, 
Jackson  was  the  most  talked-about  and  most  abused  man 


134      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

in  the  world — on  both  sides  of  the  ocean  and  in  several 
languages.  Mr.  Monroe  and  his  Cabinet  spent  most  of 
July  and  August  debating  Jackson.  The  Ministry  at 
St.  James's  sat  up  nights  over  Jackson.  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  laid  up  with  gout,  sent  for  the  American  minister 
to  visit  his  sick-room  for  the  purpose  of  considering 
Jackson  as  an  international  issue.  Napoleon  languished 
unheeded  at  St.  Helena  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
dwelt  in  obscurity  at  Walmer,  by  comparison. 

Finally,  Congress  met;  also  Parliament.  Congress 
ordered  an  investigation.  The  House  of  Commons  in- 
terrogated the  ministry — all  about  Jackson.  Meantime 
the  object  of  all  this  world-wide  excitation,  this  poly- 
glot furor,  vegetated  at  the  Hermitage,  all  but  uncon- 
scious of  his  exaltation  and  quite  oblivious — to  all  out- 
ward appearance — of  his  own  celebrity.  In  fact,  for 
nearly  two  months  after  his  return  to  the  Hermitage, 
the  General  was  so  ill  or  so  debilitated  that  Colonel 
Hayne  had  to  transact  most  of  the  routine  business  of 
division  head-quarters,  and  Major  Lewis  attended  to  his 
personal  correspondence — the  General  merely  signing 
orders  and  letters  as  he  reclined  in  an  easy  chair  or 
sat  up  in  bed. 

Finally  he  recuperated.  Christmas  Day  he  gave  a 
dinner  to  his  intimate  friends  at  the  Hermitage.  They 
all  declared  that  he  hadn't  looked  so  well  before  in  ten 
years.  He  referred  them  to  **Aunt  Rachel,"  to  whose 
nursing  he  ascribed  his  recovery.  ''She  pulled  me 
through,"  he  said,  ''in  spite  of  myself  and  the  doctors." 
And  one  of  the  "doctors"  was  at  the  table! 

On  the  4th  of  January  the  General  sent  for  Major 
Lewis,  turned  over  to  him  a  mass  of  unanswered  letters. 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  135 

"to  be  dealt  with  as  the  major  might  see  fit,"  borrowed 
the  major's  new  overcoat — his  own  being  somewhat 
shabby — and  mounted  his  best  horse  for  Washington. 
He  rode  as  far  as  Knoxville.  There,  finding  the  saddle 
a  little  too  strenuous  for  his  still  enfeebled  system,  he 
bought  a  fine  pair  of  horses  and  borrowed  a  carriage,  in 
which  the  rest  of  the  journey  was  performed.  Before 
leaving  the  Hermitage  he  had  imparted  to  Major  Lewis 

his  conviction  that  "3.  lot  of  d d  rascals,  with  Clay 

at  their  head — and  maybe  with  Adams  in  the  rear-guard 
— are  setting  up  a  conspiracy  against  me.  I'm  going 
there  to  see  it  out  with  them." 

The  sequel  proved  that  he  was  right  as  to  Clay,  but 
wofully  out  of  his  reckoning  as  to  Mr.  Adams.  General 
Jackson  arrived  at  Washington,  January  27th,  twenty- 
three  days  from  the  Hermitage.     He  found  the  ''d d 

rascals"  in  full  blast  with  their  "conspiracy."  Fifteen 
days  before  his  arrival  and  eight  days  before  he  began 
the  journey,  the  House  Committee  on  Military  Affairs 
had  reported  four  resolutions.  They  were  in  effect, 
though  negatively  expressed : 

1.  Disapproving  the  execution  of  Arbuthnot  and  Am- 
brister. 

2.  Prohibiting  military  executions  unless  approved 
by  the  President. 

3.  Condemning  the  seizure  of  Pensacola  and  Fort 
Barrancas. 

4.  Prohibiting  the  entry  of  United  States  troops  upon 
foreign  soil  without  authorization  by  Congress,  except 
in  pursuit  of  a  defeated  enemy. 

These  resolutions  were  debated  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  other  subjects  from  January  12th  to  February  loth. 


136       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

No  attempt  can  be  made  to  give  even  a  summary  of  the 
debate.  Suffice  to  say  that  few  debates  in  Congress 
have  lasted  so  long,  covered  such  a  wide  range  of  law 
and  diplomacy  or  been  conducted  by  such  masters  of  the 
art  as  this  one.  Even  Benton,  in  his  Abridgment  of 
Congressional  Debates — a  work  as  compendious  as  could 
be  made — devotes   117  large  pages  to  it. 

As  has  frequently  happened  in  Congress,  the  prepon- 
derance of  eloquence  was  on  one  side  and  that  of  votes 
on  the  other.  After  such  oratory  as  Clay's  had  spent 
its  fiercest  force,  the  House  sustained  Jackson  nearly 
two  to  one. 

It  approved  the  execution  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambris- 
ter — 90  to  54. 

It  sustained  military  execution  by  a  commanding  gen- 
eral without  approval  by  the  P.resident — 98  to  57. 

It  approved  the  seizure  of  Pensacola — 91  to  65. 

And  it  approved  the  entry  of  United  States  troops 
upon  foreign  soil — 112  to  42. 

In  the  meantime  the  Senate  had  considered  the  same 
subject  through  a  select  committee,  of  which  i\Ir.  La- 
cock,  of  Pennsylvania,  was  chairman.  Should  any  reader 
desire  to  know  who  Mr.  Lacock  was,  an  examination 
of  the  Standard  Dictionary  of  American  Biography  will 
disclose  the  fact  that,  out  of  twelve  lines  in  which  his 
share  of  American  history  is  set  forth,  six  and  one-half 
lines  are  devoted  to  the  important  information  that  he 
"opposed  Andrew  Jackson,"  etc.  Jackson,  as  a  maker 
of  that  kind  of  biography  in  our  annals,  was  prolific. 
A  great  many  names  were  rescued  from  total  oblivion 
by  their  owners  coming  in  collision  with  him. 

Mr.  Lacock's  principal  coadjutor  was  Mr.  Eppes,  of 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA 


137 


Virginia.  The  Standard  Dictionary  of  American  Biog- 
raphy does  a  Httle  better  by  Mr.  Eppes  than  by  Mr. 
Lacock.  It  gives  him  fifteen  hnes.  But  ''opposition  to 
General  Jackson"  does  not  seem  to  figure  as  Mr.  Eppes's 
chief  claim  to  historical  consequence.  It  is  clearly  sub- 
ordinated to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  son-in-law  of  Thomas 
Jefferson. 

The  House,  as  we  have  seen,  voted  on  February  10, 
18 1 9,  to  sustain  General  Jackson  on  all  points  nearly 
two  to  one.  The  report  of  Mr.  Lacock's  select  com- 
mittee of  the  Senate  w^as  submitted  February  25th — only 
eight  days  before  the  expiration  of  Congress  in  its 
"short  session." 

During  the  interim  the  General  accepted  invitations 
to  public  receptions  and  dinners  in  Philadelphia,  New 
York  and  Baltimore.  An  invitation  to  Boston  was  de- 
clined— or  rather  deferred — for  want  of  time.  In  the 
course  of  his  remarks  at  the  New  York  reception,  held 
in  the  City  Hall,  the  General,  responding  to  the  welcome 
of  Mayor  Colden,  said : 

'Tn  what  I  have  done  for  my  country,  had  I  erred 
in  discharge  of  my  official  duty,  that  error  would  have 
originated  in  the  warmth  of  my  devotion  to  her  inter- 
ests and  a  misapplication  of  the  means  best  calculated 
to  promote  her  happiness  and  prosperity.  But  to  find 
that  my  conduct  has  been  sanctioned  by  my  government 
and  approved  by  my  fellow-citizens  is  a  source  of  happi- 
ness unequalled  in  the  occurrences  of  my  life." 

When  Mr.  Lacock's  report  was  submitted  to  the  Sen- 
ate it  was  laid  on  the  table  and  ordered  printed,  by 
vote  of  thirty-one  to  three.  The  three  voting  no  were 
those  members  of  the  committee  itself  who  signed  the 


ijS      HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

majority  report — which,  by  the  way,  was  mildly,  though 
clearly,  censorious. 

On  the  same  day  the  treaty  with  Spain,  ceding  Florida 
to  the  United  States,  was  published. 

Congress  adjourned  sine  die  without  action  on  Mr. 
Lacock's  report.  When  the  next  Congress  met,  General 
Jackson  memorialized  the  Senate,  asking  for  definitive 
action  on  the  subject,  declaring  that  to  leave  i\Ir.  La- 
cock's  report  as  "unfinished  business"  of  an  expired 
Congress  would  be  unjust  to  him.  But,  beyond  ordering 
his  memorial  and  accompanying  documents  to  be  print- 
ed, the  Senate  declined  to  further  consider  the  matter. 

Five  months  before  the  meeting  of  Congress,  the  ad- 
ministration dealt  with  the  question  in  cabinet  and  in  its 
diplomatic  relations.  The  Cabinet  was  John  Quincy 
Adams,  Secretary  of  State;,  William  H.  Crawford, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary 
of  War,  and  William  Wirt,  Attorney-General.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  seems  to  have  taken  no  part  in 
the  discussion.  The  President  and  all  the  Cabinet  ex- 
cept Mr.  Adams  substantially  agreed  at  the  outset  that 
the  conduct  of  General  Jackson  should  be  justified;  that 
the  General  should  be  complimented;  that  the  invasion 
should  be  considered  his  own  act;  that  it  was  just  and 
necessary;  that  it  was  not  authorized  by  the  govern- 
ment; that  Pensacola  and  St.  Marks  should  be  restored 
to  Spain. 

Fortunately  the  now  celebrated  characters  of  Mr. 
Pickwick,  Mr.  Tulkinghorn  and  Captain  Bunsby  were 
not  then  so  celebrated  as  they  are  now!  General  Jack- 
son remarked,  when  the  state  of  mind  of  the  adminis- 
tration  was   accurately   explained    to    him   by    Senator 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  139 

Campbell :  "Oh,  well,  I'm  sorry  if  I  have  perplexed  Mr. 
Monroe.  But  I'm  willing  to  leave  it  to  the  people. 
They  don't  seem  displeased.  Washington  is  a  poor 
place  to  find  out  what  the  people  think." 

A  long  and  exhaustive  correspondence  followed  be- 
tween the  President  and  the  General,  lasting  from  July 
to  December,  18 18.  The  President  praised  the  General 
heartily  in  one  sentence  and  censured  him  gently  in  the 
next,  all  through.  The  General,  in  the  courtliest  phrase 
he  could  muster,  defended  his  conduct  and  urged  the 
unprecedented  conditions  under  which  he  was  placed; 
arguing  in  effect  that  he  would  have  been  more  culpable 
had  he  shirked  the  personal  responsibility  than  he  pos- 
sibly could  be  for  assuming  it. 

To  the  surprise  of  many — and  probably  of  no  one 
more  than  General  Jackson  himself,  Mr.  Adams  sus- 
tained him  wholly  and  through  thick  and  thin.  And  this 
not  merely  in  cabinet  council,  but  in  his  diplomatic  cor- 
respondence with  Seiior  Pizarro,  the  Spanish  premier, 
and  Lord  Castlereagh's  Ministry.  His  papers  in  support 
of  General  Jackson's  policy  and  in  vindication  of  his 
acts  are  among  the  most  masterly  products  of  their  kind 
in  our  history.  He  made  Sefior  Pizarro  confess  that 
Spain  in  Florida  was  too  weak  to  enforce  her  obligations 
of  neutrality  as  between  the  United  States  and  the  hos- 
tile Indians,  who  used  her  soil  as  a  rendezvous  of  mur- 
derers and  an  asylum  for  brigands.  He  compelled  the 
British  Ministry  to  admit  that  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister 
were  justly  punished.  And  it  was  only  to  give  a  sem- 
blance of  harmony  to  the  conclusions  of  our  own  Cabinet 
that  Mr.  Adams  consented  to  acquiesce  in  the  shuffling 
and  evasive  attitude  assumed  by  his  colleagues. 


I40      HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

It  has  been  stated  that  Mr.  Wirt  in  the  main  coincided 
with  Mr.  Adams,  but  yielded  his  opinions  also  for  the 
sake  of  harmony.  This,  however,  was  of  relatively  small 
importance.  Crawford  hated  Jackson  and  was  afraid 
that  this  and  other  things  would  give  to  the  General 
that  presidency  which,  above  all  earthly  things,  he 
wanted  for  himself.  Calhoun  liked  Jackson,  but  other- 
wise held  a  motive  not  unlike  that  which  dominated 
Crawford.  He  also  dreaded  to  encounter  at  that  stage 
of  his  fortunes  a  conflict  with  General  Jackson's  over- 
whelming personal  popularity.  Adams  disliked  Jackson 
and  dreaded  the  probability  he  clearly  foresaw  that  the 
hold  he  had  upon  the  fancy  of  the  plain  people  would 
before  long  make  him  President.  In  fact,  Mr,  Adams, 
in  1818,  foresaw  that  Jackson  was  more  likely  than  any 
other  man  to  be  his  own  antagonist  for  the  succession 
to  Air.  Monroe. 

But  such  considerations  had  no  weight  with  Mr. 
Adams  when  a  great  question  was  at  stake  involving 
the  integrity  of  his  country  and  the  security  of  her  fron- 
tiers. Mr.  Adams  believed  with  Jackson  that  Florida 
was  naturally  a  part  of  the  United  States.  With  Jack- 
son he  deprecated  the  prolongation  of  Spain's  feeble, 
illogical  and  corrupt  sovereignty  there.  And  he  and 
Jackson  were  agreed  in  the  opinion  that  a  show  of 
strength  and  determination  on  our  part  would  hasten 
while  confession  of  weakness  or  incertitude  would  post- 
pone our  possession  of  Florida.  As  for  the  questions 
involved  in  the  execution  of  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister, 
Mr.  Adams  simply  applied  to  them  the  policy  of  Great 
Britain  herself  in  cognate  cases,  which  he  considered 
the  only  sound,  virile  policy  possible. 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  141 

As  for  General  Jackson,  he  was  more  concerned  about 
the  giving  up  of  St.  Marks  and  Pensacola  than  any- 
thing else.  To  Senator  Campbell  he  said  '*it  only  served 
to  humor  Spain's  vanity,  which  was  all  that  the  rotten 
old  kingdom  had  left!" 

As  the  sequel  proved,  it  did  **humor  Spain's  vanity" 
enough  to  make  her  procrastinate  nearly  two  years  over 
the  final  treaty  of  cession.  And  it  emboldened  her  to 
exact  ''compensatory  guarantees"  on  the  side  of  Texas 
which  afterward  returned  to  plague  their  inventors. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  from  the  shady  porch  of  Monti- 
cello,  announced  that  in  his  opinion  the  diplomatic  ex- 
position of  Mr.  Adams  was  a  diplomatic  model  of  the 
American  school  fit  for  all  future  guidance.  The  ven- 
erable John  Adams,  standing  at  the  antipodes  of  political 
philosophy  from  Mr.  Jefferson,  united  with  his  lifelong 
adversary  in  praising  the  master-stroke  of  his  great  son. 
We  doubt  if  ever  any  state  paper  in  our  national  history 
was  more  uniformly  approved  by  those  whose  approval 
is  compliment,  or  more  viciously  criticised  by  those 
whose  disapproval  is  decoration,  than  was  John  Quincy 
Adams's  vindication  of  Andrew  Jackson  in  Spanish 
Florida. 

From  the  summer  of  18 19  to  the  spring  of  1821, 
General  Jackson  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  his  way. 
His  military  duties  wxre  not  onerous.  He  lived  at  the 
Hermitage  and  his  aides-de-camp  usually  brought  to 
him  there  such  papers  as  required  his  personal  attention. 
He  did  not  travel  much.  What  time  he  passed  away 
from  home  was  mostly  devoted  to  visiting  the  various 
Indian    reservations    in    his    military    division,    holding 


142      HISTORY   OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

pow-wows  with  them,  listening  to  their  grievances  or 
laying  his  heavy  hand  upon  such  "bad  white  men"  as 
might  venture  to  trespass  on  the  rights  he  had  solemnly 
guaranteed  to  them.  No  white  man  then  living  pos- 
sessed such  influence  over  the  Indians  as  General  Jack- 
son. No  other  man  in  our  history  has  ever  been  so 
revered  and  respected  by  them  as  he  was,  except,  per- 
haps, Sir  William  Johnson,  or,  in  a  more  limited  sphere, 
William  Penn. 

In  the  years  1819  and  1820  numerous  complaints 
reached  him  from  the  Cherokees,  Creeks  and  Chicka- 
saws  that  their  treaty-lands  were  being  trespassed  upon 
by  white  hunters  and  unlicensed  traders.  His  name  had 
been  signed  to  the  treaties  that  were  being  infringed. 
Among  his  singular  mental  habits  was  that  of  consider- 
ing himself  personally  responsible  for  the  execution,  in 
good  faith,  of  any  written  stipulation  bearing  his  signa- 
ture, public  as  well  as  private — individual  as  well  as 
official.  He  therefore  considered  that  those  who  tres- 
passed upon  the  lands  secured  to  the  Indians  by  what 
he  was  wont  to  call  ''my  treaties,"  were  guilty  of  a 
personal  indignity  or  affront  to  himself.  Hence,  with- 
out referring  the  matter  to  the  government  at  Wash- 
ington or  even  advising  the  President  of  the  complaints, 
he  issued  a  ''general  order"  directing  all  white  men 
occupying  or  sojourning  upon  lands  allotted  by  treaty 
to  Indian  tribes  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Southern 
Military  Division  to  remove  thence  within  thirty  days; 
and  if  any  such  white  man  so  trespassing  had  live  stock 
or  other  property  upon  Indian  lands,  he  should  remove 
it  within  forty  days,  on  penalty  of  arrest  and  imprison- 
ment or  forfeiture  of  the  property — or  both. 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  143 

Most  of  the  men  affected  by  this  ''order"  were  well 
acquainted  with  General  Jackson.  It  was  commonly 
known  throughout  the  region  that  orders  from  the  major- 
general  commanding  the  Southern  Military  Division 
were  not  to  be  viewed  with  levity.  The  squatters  did 
not  take  the  trouble  to  inquire  whether  he  had  any  au- 
thority or  not.  Neither  did  the  Major-General.  He  sim- 
ply acted.  So  did  they.  Most  of  them  were  off  the 
reservations  within  the  specified  time.  In  some  cases 
the  time  was  extended  briefly.  In  other  cases  the  white 
men  involved  had  Indian  wives  and  were  bona  fide 
residents — adopted  members  of  the  tribes.  In  such  cases, 
upon  request  of  the  Indians,  the  ''squaw-men,"  as  Jack- 
son designated  them,  were  allowed  to  remain,  but  at 
the  expense  of  their  citizenship. 

After  a  while  the  Major-General,  more  as  a  matter 
of  courtesy  than  otherwise,  informed  the  War  Depart- 
ment of  his  action.  The  War  Department  approved 
the  policy,  but  thought  the  notification  ought  to  have 
preceded  the  act,  as  there  were  laws  for  such  cases; 
and  the  Secretary  suggested  as  much  to  the  General. 
No  further  action  was  taken,  however.  The  squatters 
were  cleared  off  the  reservations  and  the  laws  carried 
into  practical  effect — though  not  by  exactly  the  same 
method  the  War  Department  would  have  observed  had 
it  been  consulted  beforehand.  Like  the  invasion  of 
Spanish  Florida,  General  Jackson  had  done  the  right 
thing  the  wrong  way;  but  he  had  done  it  so  thoroughly 
that  the  Washington  authorities  seemed  willing  to  let 
well  enough  alone. 

Early  in  1821  General  Jackson  announced  to  his 
friends  his  intention  to  resign  from  the  regular  army. 


144       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

The  dull  routine  of  military  service  in  time  of  peace 
was  extremely  irksome  to  him.  The  treaty  by  which 
Spain  ceded  Florida  to  the  United  States  was  completed. 
All  possible  points  of  disagreement  with  England  were 
disposed  of  by  the  commercial  treaty  of  i8i8-'i9.  Even 
the  Indians  were  peaceable  everywhere.  Not  a  speck 
of  war-cloud  could  be  seen  anywhere  upon  the  inter- 
national horizon.  After  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  un- 
intermittent  tempest  by  sea  and  land  the  world  over, 
the  sky  of  destiny  smiled  in  peace  and  soft  breezes  of 
universal  amity  soothed  the  passions  of  men.  Jackson 
evidently  viewed  such  an  epoch  as  one  wholly  unpro- 
pitious  for  a  major-general. 

Moreover,  the  reduction  of  the  regular  army,  begun 
in  1816  but  never  systematically  carried  out,  had  been 
definitely  embodied  in  a  reorganization  law  passed  by 
Congress  in  the  session  of  i820-'2i.  This  measure  pro- 
vided for  two  regiments  of  dragoons,  four  of  artillery 
and  seven  of  infantry,  with  a  small  corps  of  topograph- 
ical engineers.  It  fixed  the  maximum  strength  of  troops, 
batteries  and  companies  at  a  figure  which  the  General 
denounced  as  "absurdly  inefifective"  and  as  "mere 
skeletons."  Dragoon  troops  were  limited  to  forty-eight 
of  all  ranks,  batteries  to  fifty-six  and  companies  of  in- 
fantry to  forty-five.  The  grand  total,  oi^cers  and  men, 
did  not  exceed  8,000.  Material  changes  were  also  made 
in  the  militia  laws,  by  which  Federal  control  was  prac- 
tically abandoned  and  the  whole  subject  relegated  to  the 
several  States — which  Jackson  described  as  "a  scheme 
to  reduce  the  militia  by  starvation."  On  the  whole,  the 
military  legislation  of  that  Congress  struck  him  as  being 
"evidently  based  upon  Quaker  ideas  and  taking  it  for 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  145 

granted  that  the  enemies  of  the  United  States  had  dis- 
appeared from  the  face  of  the  earth." 

Yet  a  glance  at  the  general  history  of  that  period  will 
show  that  all  other  civilized  powers  except  Russia  were 
reducing  their  armaments  in  a  proportion  relatively 
equal  to  that  adopted  by  Congress. 

Early  in  May,  General  Jackson  tendered  his  resigna- 
tion. It  was  not  accepted  until  July.  But  on  May  31st 
he  wrote  a  farewell  address  to  the  troops  under  his 
command,  to  be  promulgated  as  soon  as  he  should  re- 
ceive formal  notice  that  his  resignation  was  accepted. 
A  remarkable  part  of  this  document  was  its  frank  con- 
demnation of  the  scheme  to  reduce  the  army  and  its 
characterization  of  the  policy  of  Congress  as  "hasty  and 
ill-timed."  Even  at  that  early  day  it  was  unusual  for 
a  regular  officer  to  denounce  the  military  policy  of  Con- 
gress in  a  formal  communication  to  the  troops  under 
his  command.  Now  it  would  doubtless  put  a  summary 
end  to  the  officer's  military  career.  Perhaps,  however, 
there  are  no  Jacksons  in  the  regular  army  now.  But 
a  still  more  surprising  feature  of  this  "farewell  order" 
was  a  "note"  appended  to  it,  dated  July  21,  1821,  the 
day  of  its  promulgation.  This  was  a  review  of  a  gen- 
eral order  issued  by  the  ranking  major-general  and 
commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  dated  Washington, 
June  1st,  and  discussing  among  other  things  the  preva- 
lence of  desertion — particularly  among  troops  serving  in 
the  Southern  Division.  This  evil  General  Brown  as- 
cribed to  "an  undue  severity  or  to  the  absence  of  system 
in  the  conduct  of  officers  toward  their  men." 

General  Jackson  seems  to  have  viewed  this  and  other 

expressions  of  similar  purport  as  a  personal  affront  to 
Vol.  II.— 10 


146       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

himself  and  the  officers  serving  in  the  Southern  ]\Iihtary 
Division.  Acting  upon  such  a  theory  he  reviewed  the 
order  of  his  superior  officer  in  language  admitting  of 
no  ambiguous  construction,  declaring,  among  other 
things,  that  certain  statements  of  General  Brown  "were 
not  founded  on  fact,"  and  that  his  order  as  a  whole 
was  "an  unjust  attempt  to  tarnish  the  well-earned  fame" 
of  officers  in  the  Southern  ^Military  Division. 

Undoubtedly  General  Jackson  had  a  right  to  traverse 
the  statements  of  General  Brown  if  they  reflected  upon 
him  or  his  subordinate  officers.  But  he  should  have 
addressed  his  objections  either  to  General  Brown  or  to 
the  Secretary  of  War — or,  if  he  chose,  to  the  President. 
But  the  last  audience  in  the  world  to  whom  such  objec- 
tions could  be  properly  addressed  were  the  officers  and 
soldiers  of  his  own  command,  and  the  last  channel 
through  which  they  could  be  properly  promulgated  was 
that  of  an  "appendix"  to  a  general  order  of  his  own — 
farewell  or  otherwise. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  performance  more 
thoroughly  unmilitary  or  less  regardful  of  discipline. 
The  whole  affair  was  simply  another  added  to  a  long 
category  of  incidents  in  which  General  Jackson,  acting 
upon  the  spur  of  the  moment,  without  thought  of  any- 
thing except  the  quickest  and  most  direct  action  possible, 
and  with  the  best  motives,  did  right,  but  did  it  in  the 
wrong  way.  That  seemed  to  be  something  more  than 
a  habit.     It  amounted  to  an  idiosyncrasy. 

For  the  rest,  this  "review"  took  the  ground  that  the 
true  remedy  for  the  evil  of  desertion  was  to  be  found 
in  a  change  of  system  as  to  punishment.  On  this  point 
General  Jackson  argued  strenuously  in  favor  of  restor- 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  147 

ing  the  cat-o'-nine-tails  as  a  disciplinary  implement  in 
the  army.  For  desertion  in  time  of  peace  he  suggested 
a  sliding  scale  of  pmiishment :  'Tor  the  first  offence, 
thirty-nine  stripes;  for  the  second,  double  that  number; 
and  for  the  third,  let  him  feel  the  highest  penalty  of  the 
law."  Most  men  in  these  days  would  consider  that,  in 
advocating  the  restoration  of  flogging.  General  Jackson 
set  his  face  against  the  humanity  of  his  time.  But  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  182 1  was  an  early  date  in 
the  history  of  humane  thought.  The  ''cat"  was  still  in 
force  in  our  navy  and  had  been  abolished  in  the  army 
but  a  short  time  previously.  And,  if  he  had  felt  the 
need  of  illustrious  reference  in  support  of  his  views, 
he  could  have  cited  the  Father  of  his  Country  as  a 
believer  in  the  patriarchal  mode  of  military  punishment, 
not  to  mention  Greene,  Wayne,  Morgan  and  other  heroes 
of  immortal,  though  subordinate,  renown.  And  here  it 
might  be  suggested  that  one  of  these — General  Morgan 
— had  "enjoyed  experience"  at  both  ends  of  the  cat-o'- 
nine-tails,  having  not  only  inflicted  it  as  a  commanding 
officer  in  the  Revolution,  but  also  suffered  under  it  as 
an  enlisted  man  in  the  old  French  war. 

General  Jackson's  resignation  was  accepted  one  day, 
and  he  was  appointed  Governor  of  Florida  Territory  the 
next;  thus  enjoying  for  only  twenty-four  hours  the 
sweets  of  private  life.  His  career  as  a  civil  adminis- 
trator in  this  instance  was  brief  and  uneventful.  After 
numerous  and  vexatious  delays,  which  he  unhesitatingly 
attributed  to  "Spanish  treachery,"  the  keys  of  Pensacola 
were  turned  over  to  him  by  Governor  Don  Jose  Callava, 
and  he  assumed  civil  control  of  the  new  Territory  which 


148       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

he  had  already  twice  overrun  and  conquered  as  a  major- 
general  without  authority  and  on  his  own  personal  re- 
sponsibility. He  found  it  a  sinecure.  Congress,  in  the 
act  providing  a  form  of  territorial  government,  had 
carefully  relieved  the  governor  of  almost  every  vestige 
of  executive  power.  The  most  searching  analysis  of 
that  law  will  fail  to  disclose  any  power  left  in  the  gov- 
ernor's hands  except  that  of  drawing  his  salary  and 
reviewing  the  garrison.  Possibly  the  law-makers  knew 
— or  suspected — that  the  first  governor  would  be  ex- 
General  Jackson;  and  they  had  by  this  time  become 
tolerably  well  acquainted  with  him.*  His  only  act  as 
Governor  of  Florida  which  has  found  conspicuous  place 
in  history  was  the  temporary  incarceration  of  the  Span- 
ish ex-governor,  Callava,  in  his  own  calabozo.  This 
was  a  characteristic  perform^ce,  viewed  by  Spain  with 
helpless  horror,  and  by  the  American  people  as  a  rather 
drastic  comedy. 

Very  soon  after  the  transfer  of  sovereignty  and  while 
the  Spanish  ex-governor  and  his  staff  were  aw^aiting 
transportation  to  Havana,  a  handsome  quadroon  w^oman 
waited  upon  the  territorial  judge  or  alcalde,  Henry  M. 
Brackenridge,  to  represent  that  she  was  the  heiress  of 
one  Nicolas  Maria  Vidal,  that  the  papers  embodying 
proof  of  her  rights  were  in  the  custody  of  Senor  Do- 
mingo Sousa,  adjutant  to  ex-Governor  Callava,  and  that 
they  were  to  be  carried  away   to   Havana   with   other 

*  John  Randolph  remarked,  while  the  Florida  bill  was  under  considera- 
tion in  the  House  of  Representatives,  that  "some  honorable  gentlemen, 
evidently  divining  the  intention  of  the  President  to  api)oint  an  illustrious 
hero  to  the  governorship  of  the  new  Territory,  seem  filled  with  a  prudent 
resolve  to  preclude  him  from  the  possible  use  of  it  as  a  base  of  operations 
for  the  conquest  of  Spanish  Cuba." 


GOVERNOR    OF    FLORIDA  149 

documents  of  the  late  regime.  Judge  Brackenridge, 
having  no  authority  to  act,  at  once  referred  the  matter 
to  Governor  Jackson. 

That  functionary  waited  only  to  hear  that  a  defence- 
less woman  was  about  to  be  defrauded  of  her  patrimony 
by  Spanish  tyranny.  He  ordered  that  the  papers  be 
produced  forthwith.  Sefior  Sousa  protested  that  he 
could  not  give  them  up  without  orders  from  his  superior, 
Senor  Callava.  Governor  Jackson  then  extended  the 
scope  of  his  order  to  include  the  ex-governor.  That 
ex-functionary  peremptorily  refused  to  surrender  the 
papers.  He  declared  them  to  be  the  property  of  the 
firm  of  Forbes  and  Company,  British  subjects  doing 
business  by  authority  of  the  Spanish  Government,  and 
intrusted  to  the  late  representative  of  that  government 
for  safe  keeping. 

If  Governor  Jackson  was  in  earnest  before,  he  be- 
came infuriated  now.  Forbes  and  Company,  forsooth! 
Nobody  had  better  reason  to  be  intimately  acquainted 
with  Forbes  and  Company  than  he.  They  had  been  im- 
plicated in  transactions  with  Arbuthnot,  whom  he  had 
hanged.  The  ''business  carried  on  by  Forbes  and  Com- 
pany by  authority  of  the  Spanish  Government"  had  been 
that  of  supplying  with  arms  and  ammunition  the  hostile 
Indians,  who  had  used  those  arms  in  the  massacre  of 
Fort  Mims,  the  murder  of  Lieutenant  Scott  and  his 
detachment,  and  a  long  list  of  other  horrors. 

Further  particulars  need  not  be  offered  here. 

Governor  Jackson  at  once  ordered  Lieutenant  Mountz, 
of  the  Fourth  Infantry,  to  take  a  file  of  twenty  men, 
arrest  ex-Governor  Callava,  make  a  final  demand  for 
the  Vidal  papers,  and  if  still  refused  to  confine  the  ex- 


150       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

governor  in  the  calabozo.  The  regular  Heutenant  obeyed 
orders  to  the  letter  and  ex-Governor  Callava  was  thrown 
into  the  calabozo,  where  he  passed  the  night  with  sev- 
eral convivial  friends,  who  voluntarily  shared  his  im- 
prisonment, the  asperity  of  which  was  largely  mitigated 
by  abundant  supplies  of  champagne  and  cigars. 

The  next  day  Judge  Fromentin — a  French  adventurer 
from  Louisiana  whom  President  Monroe  had  appointed 
as  temporary  or  provisional  judge  for  the  new  Territory 
— issued  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Governor  Jackson 
ignored  the  writ  and  cited  the  judge  to  appear  before 
him  and  answer  to  a  charge  of  contempt  for  his  (the 
Governor's)  sovereign  authority.  He,  however,  ordered 
the  release  of  Callava  on  other  grounds.  Fromentin 
was  not  prosecuted  for  "contempt  of  Governor  Jack- 
son,'' but  he  was  soon  after  superseded  in  the  territorial 
judgeship  by  Mr.  Brackenridge,  regularly  appointed  and 
confirmed. 

At  last  the  Vidal  papers  were  surrendered.  Governor 
Jackson  then  directed  Alcalde  Brackenridge  to  investigate 
the  case.  It  was  characteristic  of  Governor  Jackson  to 
act  first  and  investigate  afterward — if  at  all.  Bracken- 
ridge's  investigation  disclosed  that  the  papers  were  of 
no  value — or  less  than  none,  because  they  showed  the 
Vidal  estate  to  be  indebted  to  Forbes  and  Company  in  a 
small  sum.  Besides,  it  appeared  that  the  handsome 
quadroon  woman  had  no  rights  in  the  inheritance,  under 
the  laws  of  the  State  of  Louisiana,  where  the  estate  was 
situate,  being  illegitimate  and  born  of  a  slave  mother. 


CHAPTER   VI 

PRESIDENTIAL   CANDIDATE 

Nothing  came  of  this  serio-comedy.  The  Spanish 
government  made  no  effort  to  secure  redress  of  Senor 
Callava's  wrongs  and  Governor  Don  Andreas  Jackson 
— as  the  Spaniards  called  him — reigned  supreme.  No 
other  episode  worth  historical  mention  occurred  during 
Jackson's  brief  incumbency  of  the  territorial  governor- 
ship. He  resigned  and  returned  to  the  Hermitage  in 
November.  The  General  himself  left  to  history  no  ex- 
pression of  his  own  concerning  his  view  of  the  guber- 
natorial office.  But  Mrs.  Jackson,  in  letters  to  her 
brother,  Colonel  John  Donelson,  and  to  her  friend,  the 
wife  of  Captain  Kingsley  of  the  army,*  w^as  more  com- 
municative. Her  letters  possess  the  double  value  of  an 
index  to  her  character  and  of  gossipy  contributions  to 
"inside  history."  Keenly  as  the  General  may  have  felt 
the  restraints  by  which  the  organic  law  of  the  Territory 
denied  him  the  privilege  of  "recognizing  the  claims  of 
his  friends,"  he  made  no  sign — at  least  none  that  ever 
reached  the  public  eye  or  ear.  But  he  doubtless  im- 
parted his  chagrin  to  Mrs.  Jackson. 

In  August  she  wrote  to  Colonel  Donelson: 

I  am  sure  our  stay  here  will  not  be  long.     This  office  does 
not  suit  my  husband.     .     .     .     There  never  was  a  man  more 

*  Historical  Society  of  Tennessee. 
151 


152      HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

disappointed  than  he  has  been.  He  has  not  the  power  to 
appoint  one  of  his  friends ;  which  I  thought  was  in  part  the 
reason  for  his  coming.  But  it  has  almost  taken  his  Hfe.  Cap- 
tain Call  says  it  is  equal  to  the  Seminole  campaign.  Well,  I 
knew  it  would  be  a  ruining  concern.  I  shall  not  pretend  to 
describe  the  toils,  fatigues  and  trouble.  These  Spaniards  had 
as  lief  die  as  give  up  their  country.  He  has  had  terrible  scenes : 
the  Governor  [Callava]  has  been  put  in  the  calaboose;  which 
is  a  terrible  thing,  really.  I  was  afraid  there  would  be  a 
rebellion,  but  the  Spanish  troops  were  all  gone  to  Havana ;  only 
some  officers  remaining  here  yet.  Rebellion  would  have  been 
terrible.  You  know  how  he  [meaning  the  General]  deals  wdth 
rebellions.     Let  us  thank  the  Lord  there  was  none.     .     .     . 

We  have  a  hope  of  setting  out  by  the  first  of  October  for 
home.  .  .  .  They  all  begin  to  think  with  me  that  Tennessee 
is  the  best  country  yet.  Tell  our  friends  I  hope  to  see  them 
again  in  our  country  and  to  know  that  it  is  the  best  I  ever 
saw.  .  .  .  The  glory  of  high  office  is  nothing.  I  shall 
never  forget  how  quickly  the  leaves  withered  of  the  laurel 
crown  they  put  upon  the  General  at  New  Orleans  !  There  is 
but  one  Crown  that  never  fades  or  withers.  O,  let  us  all  seek 
it  while  yet  we  may. 

In  one  of  her  letters  to  Mrs.  Kingsley,  Mrs.  Jackson 
said: 

O,  that  I  had  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer  that  I  might  give 
you  a  correct  detail  of  the  great  transactions.  We  having  a 
house  prepared  and  furnished,  the  General  advised  me  to  move 
down  and  remain  until  he  could  with  propriety  march  in  with 
the  Fourth  Regiment.* 

Three  Sabbaths  I  spent  in  this  house  before  the  country  was 

*  Governor  Jackson  would  not  enter  the  town  until  the  Spanish 
authorities  were  ready  to  transfer  the  government  to  him  But  he  did  not 
wish  Mrs.  Jackson  to  undergo  the  privations  of  camp,  and  therefore  he 
sent  her  to  reside  in  the  town  three  weeks  before  he  took  official  posses- 
sion. 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  153 

in  possession  under  American  government.  In  all  that  time  I 
was  not  an  idle  spectator.  The  Sabbath  profanely  kept;  a  great 
deal  of  noise  and  swearing  in  the  streets;  shops  kept  open; 
trade  going  on,  I  think,  more  than  on  any  other  day.  They 
were  so  boisterous  on  that  day  I  sent  Major  Stanton  to  say  to 
them  that  the  approaching  Sunday  [the  one  after  the  trans- 
fer— Author]  would  be  differently  kept.*  And  I  must  say 
the  worst  people  here  are  the  cast-out  Americans  and  negroes. 
Yesterday  [the  first  Sunday  after  the  transfer]  I  had  the 
happiness  of  witnessing  the  truth  of  what  I  had  said.  Great 
order  was  observed;  the  doors  kept  shut;  the  gambling-houses 
demolished;  fiddling  and  dancing  not  heard  any  more  on  the 
Lord's  Day;  cursing  not  to  be  heard.     .     .     . 

While  the  General  was  in  camp,  fourteen  miles  from  Pensa- 
cola,  he  was  very  sick.  I  went  to  see  him  and  try  and  per- 
suade him  to  come  to  his  house.  But  no.  All  his  friends  tried. 
He  said  that  when  he  came  in  it  should  be  under  his  own 
standard,  and  that  would  be  the  third  time  he  had  planted  that 
flag  on  that  wall.  And  he  has  done  so.  O,  how  solemn  was 
his  pale  countenance  when  he  dismounted  from  his  horse ! 
Recollections  of  scenes  and  perils  of  war  not  to  be  dissevered 
presented  themselves  to  view.  The  inhabitants  all  speak 
Spanish  and  French.  Some  speak  four  or  five  languages. 
Such  a  mixed  multitude  you  nor  I  nor  any  of  us  ever  had  an 
idea  of.  There  are  fewer  white  people  than  any  other,  mixed 
with  all  nations  under  the  canopy  of  heaven  almost  in  nature's 
darkness.  But  thanks  to  the  Lord  that  hath  put  grace  in  this 
His  servant  to  issue  His  proclamation  in  a  language  they  all 

*  Mrs.  Jackson  knew  what  she  was  writing  about.  Among  the  first  acts 
of  Governor  Jackson  was  to  ordain  that,  "  As  the  Christian  Sabbath  is  observed 
throughout  the  civilized  world,  in  order  to  remove  any  doubt  which  might 
be  entertained  with  resoect  to  the  powers  of  the  Mayor  and  Council  on  this 
subject,  they  are  authorized  to  make  any  regulations  on  the  observance  thereof 
which  they  may  deem  proper." 

It  is  necessary  to  add  only  that  the  "regulations  made  by  the  Mayor  and 
Council"  were  drafted  at  head-quarters,  and  no  doubt  approved  by  Mrs. 
Jackson.  Pensacola  became  a  "closed  town"  on  Sunday,  under  the  regime 
of  Governor  and  Mrs.  Jackson. 


154       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

understand.  I  think  the  sanctuary  is  about  to  be  purged  for  a 
minister  of  the  gospel  to  come  over  to  the  help  of  the  Lord's 
cause  in  this  dark  region. 

There  is  a  Catholic  Church  in  the  place  and  the  priest  seems 
a  divine-looking  man.  He  comes  to  see  us.  He  dined  with  us 
yesterday,  the  Governor  and  Secretary,  French,  Spanish,  Ameri- 
can ladies  and  all.     I  have  as  pleasant  a  house  as  any  in  town. 

My  dear  husband  is,  I  think,  not  any  better  as  to  his  health. 
He  has  indeed  performed  a  great  work  in  his  day.  Had  I  heard 
by  the  hearing  of  the  ear  I  could  not  have  believed ! 

O,  for  Zion.  I  am  not  at  rest  nor  can  I  be  in  a  heathen 
land.  How  happy  and  thankful  should  you  be  in  a  land  of  gos- 
pel light  and  liberty.  O,  rejoice  and  be  glad;  far  more  it  is 
to  be  desired  than  all  the  honor  and  riches  in  this  vain  world. 
Farewell,  my  dear  friend,  and  should  the  great  Arbiter  of  fate 
order  His  servant  not  to  see  her  kindred  and  friends  again  I 
hope  to  meet  you  in  the  realms  of  everlasting  bliss.  Then 
shall  I  weep  no  more  at  parting. 

Do  not  be  uneasy  for  me.  'Although  the  vine  yield  no  fruit 
and  the  olive  no  oil,  yet  will  I  serve  the  Lord." 

The  date  of  the  foregoing  letter  was  July  23d.  Two 
months  later  she  wrote  to  Mrs.  Kingsley  again : 

Happy  am  I  to  tell  you  and  all  my  dear  friends  that  w-e  are 
not  much  longer  for  this  place.  The  General,  I  think,  is  the 
most  anxious  man  to  get  home  I  ever  saw.  He  calls  it  a  wild- 
goose  chase,  his  coming  here.  .  .  .  You  are  in  the  best 
country  in  America.  O,  how  has  this  place  been  overrated. 
Among  many  disadvantages  it  has  few  advantages.  Not  one 
minister  of  the  gospel  has  come  to  this  place  yet ;  no,  not  one ; 
but  we  have  a  prayer-meeting  every  Sabbath.  The  house  is 
crowded  so  there  is  not  room  for  them.  Sincere  prayers  are 
constantly  sent  up  to  the  Hearer  of  Prayer  for  a  faithful  min- 
ister. O,  what  a  reviving,  refreshing  scene  it  would  be  to 
the  Christians,  though  few  in  number.  The  non-professors 
also  desire  it. 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  155 

You  named,  my  dear  friend,  my  going  to  the  theatre.  I 
went  once  and  then  with  much  reluctance.  I  felt  so  little 
interest  in  it,  however,  I  shall  not  take  up  much  time  in 
apologizing. 

At  last  the  tired  and  disappointed  General  and  his 
pious  and  patient  spouse  once  more  found  the  rest  and 
congenial  society  of  their  beloved  Hermitage  a  few  days 
before  Christmas-tide,  1821.  It  proved  a  rest  of  two 
years.  The  brief  governorship  of  Florida  passed  into 
memory  more  as  a  nightmare  than  as  an  experience. 
For  the  first  time  since  1789  Andrew  Jackson  was  a 
private  citizen  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term.  For  thirty- 
two  years  consecutively  he  had  held  office,  civil  or  mili- 
tary :  Territorial  district-attorney  for  Tennessee ;  mem- 
ber of  Congress  from  the  new  State;  Senator;  Supreme 
Court  Judge;  Major-General  of  militia;  Major-General 
in  the  regular  army;  defender  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase; 
conqueror  and  Governor  of  Florida.  A  long  list  of 
honors,  surely.  For  some  men  they  would  have  sufBced. 
For  a  time  he  declared  and  believed  that  they  must 
suffice  for  him. 

"I  am  no  longer  a  strong  man,"  he  said  to  his  friend, 
ex-Senator  Campbell,  who  had  recently  returned  from 
Russia,  where  he  was  American  minister  from  18 18  to 
182 1,  and  who  visited  him  at  the  Hermitage.  'T  can't 
stand  the  fatigues  and  privations  I  used  to.  Why,  bless 
us,  George,  do  you  realize  we  are  getting  old?  I'm 
fifty-four!  And  God  knows  I've  never  spared  myself. 
You  are  a  year  younger  and  have  taken  better  care  of 
yourself.  But,  after  all,  we're  both  getting  old — or 
towards  it,  anyhow." 

Campbell  pooh-poohed  the  General's  pessimism.   *'You 


156        HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

are  only  tired  out,"  he  said,  ''and  a  little  bit  sick.  That 
miserable  climate  and  the  wretched  filth  of  a  Spanish 
town  have  temporarily  enfeebled  your  system.  But  wait, 
General,  till  our  own  pure  air  braces  you  up  this  winter 
and  something  happens  to  stir  your  spirit  up  and  you'll 
soon  be  your  old  self  again.  You  are  by  no  means 
safe  from  the  presidency  in   1824 " 

'T   really  hope  you  don't  think,   George,   that   I   am 

d d   fool   enough  to   believe  that!"   interrupted   the 

General  with  something  of  his  wonted  warmth.  "No, 
sir;  I  may  be  pretty  well  satisfied  with  myself  in  some 
things,  but  am  not  vain  enough  for  that." 

One  by  one  all  his  closest  friends  approached  him  in 
the  same  way.  To  all  he  returned  the  same  answer. 
Since  about  1818  he  had  to  a  great  extent  lost  interest 
in  politics.  He  had  even  let  go  his  hold  on  the  throttle- 
valve  of  the  "Tennessee  machine,"  and  his  mantle  as  its 
"Boss"  had  fallen  upon  the  broad  shoulders  of  his  favor- 
ite protege.  General  William  Carroll.  He  really  and 
earnestly  hoped  to  be  left  alone;  to  eke  out  his  days — 
which  he  believed  would  be  few — in  private  life.  He 
longed  for  the  repose  and  seclusion  of  his  now  superb 
plantation;  to  re-establish  his  erstwhile  supremacy  as  a 
stock-breeder  and  horse-fancier.  Since  1804  niost  of  the 
outlying  land  had  been  sold  off,  so  that  in  1821  the 
Hermitage  plantation  was  a  solid  tract  of  about  three 
thousand  acres,  of  which  say  twelve  hundred  were  under 
cultivation;  the  rest  magnificent  timber.  Since  1819  a 
new  brick  mansion  had  been  built — a  palace  in  that  en- 
vironment, but  which  M.  Lavasseur,  private  secretary 
to  Lafayette,  when  that  illustrious  French  patriot  vis- 
ited General  Jackson  in  1825,  thought  would  hardly  be 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  157 

a  suitable  porter's  lodge  for  the  chateau  of  so  great  a 
man  in  France. 

However,  it  was  a  palace  to  the  victor  of  New  Or- 
leans. A  commodious,  though  plain,  ''double  house," 
with  wade  hall,  good-sized  rooms,  two  stories  and  a 
lofty  attic,  thickly  shaded  lawn,  a  large  garden  laid  out 
in  gravelled  walks  and  redolent  with  the  perfume  of 
flowers,  a  wide  porch  whereon  to  while  aw^ay  pleasant 
evenings  or  afternoons  with  good  cheer  drawn  from  a 
capacious  cellar  amply  stocked ;  all  this,  howsoever  primi- 
tive it  might  seem  to  M.  Lavasseur,  was  idyllic  and 
luxurious  to  a  pioneer  like  Andrew  Jackson  and  to  the 
daughter  of  one  like  Mrs.  Jackson. 

Beyond  doubt,  General  Jackson's  firm  resolve  in  1821 
to  quit  public  life  ''for  good  and  all"  was  largely  due 
to  the  influence  of  his  wife.  During  that  winter — in 
February,  1822 — she  wrote  to  her  niece,  Mary  Donel- 
son: 

I  do  hope  they  will  now  leave  Mr.  Jackson  alone.  He  is  not 
a  well  man  and  never  will  be  unless  they  allow  him  to  rest. 
He  has  done  his  share  for  the  country.  How  little  time  has 
he  had  to  himself  or  for  his  own  interests  in  the  thirty  years 
of  our  wedded  life.  In  all  that  time  he  has  not  spent  one- 
fourth  of  his  days  under  his  own  roof.  The  rest  of  the  time 
away,  travelling,  holding  court,  or  at  the  capital  of  the  coun- 
try, or  in  camp,  or  fighting  its  battles,  or  treating  with  the 
Indians ;  mercy  knows  what  not,  so  that  it  kept  him  from  home, 
from  his  own  concerns  and  serving  the  people  as  a  Christian 
serves  the  Lord. 

In  all  this  time  and  through  all  such  trials  I  have  not  said  aye, 
yes  or  no.  It  was  his  work  to  do,  he  seemed  called  to  it  and 
I  watched,  waited  and  prayed  most  of  the  time  alone.  Now 
I  hope  it  is  at  an  end.  They  talk  of  his  being  President.  Major 
Eaton,   General  Carroll,   Mr.   Campbell,   the   Doctor    [meaning 


158        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Bronaugh]  and  even  the  Parson  [probably  meaning  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Blackburn]  and  I  can't  tell  how  many  others — all  of  his 
friends  who  come  here — talk  everlastingly  about  his  being 
President.  In  this  as  in  all  else,  I  can  only  say,  the  Lord's 
will  be  done.  But  I  hope  he  may  not  be  called  again  to  the 
strife  and  empty  honors  of  public  place. 

But  neither  the  General's  modest  estimate  of  himself 
nor  Mrs.  Jackson's  longing  for  a  serene  home  life  made 
any  difference  with  the  programme  of  the  people.  From 
this  time  on  Jackson  became  a  candidate  for  the  pres- 
idency; a  passive  one,  indeed;  so  passive  that  he  not 
only  did  not  seek  it,  but  for  a  time  was  almost  oblivious 
of  the  fact.  His  candidature  was  not  only  non-personal, 
but  it  was  not  even  the  evolution  of  a  ''favorite  son." 
True,*he  was  the  candidate  of  Tennessee,  but  not  in  the 
sense  in  which  Clay  was  the  "favorite  son"  of  Kentucky, 
Adams  of  Massachusetts,  Crawford  of  Georgia,  Calhoun 
of  South  Carolina,  or  DeWitt  Clinton  of  New  York. 
The  political  parties  of  earlier  days  had  ceased  to  exist. 
The  Federalism  that  Hamilton  invented  and  John  Adams 
exploited  into  the  presidency  had  disappeared  along  with 
Pakenham's  soldiers  and  other  wreckage  of  the  war  of 
18 1 2.  No  party  in  those  days  could  survive  Hartford 
conventions.  The  old  Republican  party,  of  which  Jef- 
ferson was  the  prophet,  had  disappeared  in  the  apostolic 
succession  of  Madison  and  Monroe.  It  was  clear  that 
Virginia  had  ceased  to  be  the  Rome  of  Republican  popes, 
or,  at  least,  of  Jeffersonian  pontiffs.  No  new  parties 
of  definitive  organization  or  tangible  growth  had  taken 
the  places  of  those  that  were  defunct. 

In  such  a  chaos  the  supremacy  of  personalism  becomes 
inevitable  under  any  elective  or  popular  form  of  gov- 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  159 

ernment.  From  this  view-point  two  men  stood  head  and 
shoulders  above  the  others,  though  on  diametrically  op- 
posite pedestals.  They  were  Adams  and  Jackson.  Mr. 
Adams  was  unquestionably  the  leading  American  states- 
man of  his  time.  He  had  all  of  his  father's  intellectual 
grasp  and  power,  with  vastly  more  than  his  father's 
savoir  faire.  His  character  had  been  polished  in  the 
schools  of  Europe  and  his  natural  subtlety  made  keen 
as  a  razor  by  contact  with  the  best-trained  and  most 
astute  diplomatists  of  the  Old  World.  All  American 
statesmen  in  that  epoch  were  more  or  less  provincial. 
Even  Clay,  peerless  in  oratory  and  with  the  advantage 
of  having  dabbled  in  diplomacy  at  Ghent,  was  still  a 
Kentuckian  of  the  Kentuckians,  and  had  not  yet  quite 
got  over  feeling  a  bit  awkward  as  soon  as  he  arrived 
on  the  Atlantic  slope.  He  was,  moreover,  a  politician 
of  the  hour  and  for  the  stake  in  sight,  who  could  never 
let  a  trick  pass  him,  no  matter  how  high  a  card  he 
might  have  to  play  to  take  it.  As  for  Crawford,  Cal- 
houn and  Clinton,  they  were  simply  ''favorite  sons,"  om- 
nipotent in  their  respective  States,  but  little  known  and 
less  cared  about  beyond  their  own  provincial  confines. 

Jackson  held  a  rank  and  occupied  a  position  different 
from  all.  He  was  not  a  statesman.  He  was  not  widely 
known  as  a  politician,  though,  in  his  own  bailiwick,  he 
had  long  been  a  most  adroit,  masterful  and  commanding 
one.  But  he  zi^as  known,  not  only  throughout  the  Union, 
but  far  and  wide  in  the  civilized  world,  as  the  greatest 
soldier  of  America.  In  that  capacity  his  popularity  was 
as  overwhelming  in  Pennsylvania  as  in  Tennessee,  in 
New  Hampshire  as  in  Missouri.  Without  exactly  know- 
ing why,  the  people  of  every  State  and  section  viewed 


i6o        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

him  as  the  man  who,  when  their  national  pride  was  pros- 
trated and  their  patriotic  self-esteem  turned  to  shame 
by  the  disasters  of  1814,  had  revived  the  one  and  re- 
kindled the  other  by  the  thunderbolt  of  unexpected  vic- 
tory he  sent  reverberating  through  the  land  from  Chal- 
mette  Plain  in  181 5. 

The  seven  years  passed  since  then  had  not  in  the 
least  cooled  the  blood  or  lessened  the  gratitude  of  the 
people.  Hence  it  was  that,  while  the  States  which  had 
''favorite  sons''  nursed  them  tenderly,  the  name  of  Jack- 
son overleapt  alike  boundaries  of  commonwealths  and 
lines  of  sections.  Benton,  "Boss"  of  Missouri  and  hold- 
ing the  political  destinies  of  the  new  Northwest  as  in 
the  hollow  of  his  hand,  forgot  the  deadly  brawl  of  18 13. 
He  was  loud,  indeed,  publicly  in  his  support  of  his 
wife's  uncle,  Mr.  Clay,  but  he^  quietly  advised  his  friends 
not  to  let  the  Jackson  procession  pass  altogether  by  them. 
Pennsylvania,  having  no  "favorite  son"  of  her  own, 
adopted  Jackson,  without  regard  to  party,  by  a  sort  of 
consensus  of  the  plain  people.  Sturdy  Isaac  Hill,  in  the 
granite-ribbed  Adamsite  State  of  New  Hampshire,  un- 
der the  shadow  of  Mount  Washington,  nailed  the  Jack- 
son banner  to  the  mast  of  his  unterrified  Patriot. 

During  all  this  furor  the  General  remained  perfectly 
quiescent  and  apparently  unconcerned  on  his  plantation. 
Mrs.  Jackson  declared  that  she  "could  not  remember 
when  she  had  been  so  happy.  Never  before  had  she 
enjoyed  so  much  of  Mr.  Jackson's  society.  He  hardly 
went  away  from  home  at  all  now.  And,  best  of  all,  his 
health  was  mending  wonderfully."  In  a  rather  vague 
way,  she  realized  that  "he  was  talked  about  for  Pres- 
ident by  a  goud  many  people,  but  she  didn't  think  there 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  i6i 

was  really  much  danger  of  his  being  called  away  from 
home  again.  Of  course,  she  knew  that  Major  Lewis, 
her  near  neighbor,  and  Edward  Livingston,  her  hus- 
band's good  friend  in  New  Orleans,  were  moving 
heaven  and  earth  to  nominate  the  General.  She  knew 
what  Major  Lewis  was  doing  because  he  told  her.  And 
she  knew  what  Mr.  Livingston  was  doing  because  his 
little  daughter  of  1815,  now  grown  to  young  ladyhood, 
wrote  to  her  about  it.  As  for  the  rest,  she  knew  but 
little,  because  she  found  little  time  to  read  the  news- 
papers and  the  General  did  not  bother  her  with  the 
myriad  of  letters  that  poured  in  upon  him. 

So  things  went  along  through  1822  and  till  near  the 
end  of  1823.  Late  in  the  summer  of  that  year  General 
Jackson  was  forced  by  local  conditions  into  a  positive 
attitude  as  a  presidential  candidate.  His  nomination  for 
the  presidency,  according  to  the  custom  then  in  vogue,  by 
the  Tennessee  legislature  was  already  assured.  But  there 
a  complication  arose  in  the  fact  that  Senator  John  Wil- 
liams, whose  term  expired  March  4,  1823,  was  a  candi- 
date for  re-election.  Williams  was  not  only  personally 
and  politically  adverse  to  Jackson  *  in  the  State,  but 
he  was  also  known  to  be  pledged  to  the  support  of  Craw- 
ford. It  was  know^n  that  he  had  already  obtained 
pledges  of  support  from  a  majority  of  the  legislature. 
The  General's  keen  instinct  of  party  management  taught 

*  Williams  had  been  colonel  of  the  Thirty-ninth  United  States  Infantry, 
and  was  with  Jackson  in  the  last  campaign  of  the  Creek  war.  Jackson 
named  Fort  Williams  in  Alabama  for  him.  But  in  his  report  of  the  battle 
of  Tohopeka,  where  the  Thirty-ninth  really  behaved  well,  the  General,  as 
Williams  thought,  failed  to  give  his  regiment  due  credit.  Jackson  declined 
to  amend  his  report  and  Williams,  who,  upon  reduction  of  the  army  after 
the  war,  went  into  politics  in  Tennessee,  became  his  inveterate,  and  at  one 
time  most  formidable,  enemy  in  the  State. 
Vol.  II.  — II 


1 62        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

him  that  if  the  same  legislature  which  nominated  him 
for  the  presidency  should  also  choose  a  senator  known 
to  be  hostile  to  him  and  pledged  to  Crawford,  the  presi- 
dential nomination  would  naturally  be  viewed  as  a  mere 
personal  compliment,  if  not  a  farce. 

Whatever  may  have  been  his  indifference  up  to  this 
time,  he  was  not  willing  to  be  placed  in  such  a  position 
and  the  emergency  roused  all  his  old-time  combative 
energy.  His  first  thought  was  to  select  one  of  his  own 
adherents  to  run  against  Williams  as  the  Jackson  can- 
didate. But  a  careful  analysis  of  the  situation,  based 
upon  an  actual  canvass  of-  the  legislature,  showed  that 
but  one  man  in  the  State  could  beat  Williams,  and  that 
one  was  Andrew  Jackson.  At  first  he  was  not  disposed 
to  enter  the  lists  for  the  senatorship.  But  all  his  friends 
— Eaton,  Carroll,  Lewis,  Rhea,  Campbell,  Blount  and 
many  others — insisted.  Finally,  seeing  no  alternative, 
he  consented  to  run.  He  beat  Williams,  notwithstand- 
ing the  ''pledges"  the  latter  had  obtained  from  mem- 
bers-elect in  a  personal  canvass  of  the  State,  by  more 
than  two-thirds — only  twenty-three  out  of  seventy-four 
voting  for  Williams.  Twenty-five  voted  for  Williams 
at  first,  but  before  the  result  was  announced,  two  of 
them  changed  their  votes  to  Jackson.  A  striking  evi- 
dence of  the  General's  hold  upon  the  popular  mind  in 
Tennessee  was  the  fact  that  of  the  twenty-three  who 
voted  for  Williams  to  the  end,  only  three  were  returned 
to  the  next  legislature — an  object-lesson  not  soon  to  be 
forgotten. 

The  General's  friends  lost  no  time  in  publishing  this 
suggestive  paragraph  of  political  history  throughout  the 
country.     It  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Jackson  men 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  163 

everywhere.  It  particularly  dismayed  the  adherents  of 
Crawford,  who  had  confidently  expected  that  the  re- 
election of  Williams  would  break  the  force  of  Jackson's 
nomination  as  a  presidential  candidate  by  the  legislature. 
Isaac  Hill  dressed  the  New  Hampshire  Patriot  in  the 
Star-Spangled  Banner  and  claimed,  in  large  headlines, 
"First  Blood  for  Jackson!"  It  was,  in  fact,  the  first 
"test-vote"  in  that  presidential  campaign. 

The  General  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  December  6, 
1823.  It  vras  not  a  particularly  strong  Senate.  Benton, 
H^ayne  and  Van  Buren  are  about  the  only  names  on 
its  roll-call  that  survive  in  full  splendor  the  ravage  of 
time.  His  service  in  that  august  body  lasted  a  little 
less  than  two  years.  He  sat  through  the  long  session 
of  1823-24  and  the  short  session  of  1824-25,  includ- 
ing the  brief  executive  session  after  March  4th,  to  act 
upon  the  nominations  for  the  new  Cabinet. 

The  most  important  event  of  General  Jackson's  second 
term  in  the  Senate  was  the  reconciliation — or  rather  the 
resumption  of  friendly  personal  relations — between  him- 
self and  Thomas  H.  Benton,  interrupted  at  Nashville 
ten  years  before  by  powder  and  ball.  General  Jackson 
still  carried  in  the  back  of  his  left  shoulder  the  encysted 
token  of  Colonel  Benton's  skill  with  the  pistol.  Several 
versions  of  the  reconciliation  have  been  related.  That 
given  by  Martin  Van  Buren  was  imparted  to  the  author 
of  this  work  by  Horatio  Seymour  in  1876,  as  Governor 
Seymour  received  it  from  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  1852. 

According  to  this  account  there  was  no  scene  what- 
ever. On  entering  the  Senate,  General  Jackson  took  the 
seat  formerly  occupied  by  his  defeated  predecessor.  Colo- 
nel John  Williams.     The  next  seat  but  one  was  that  of 


1 64        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

Colonel  Benton,  and  Mr.  Van  Buren  was  the  interven- 
ing one.  This  arrangement  was  changed  later  in  the 
session,  bringing  Jackson  and  Benton  in  adjoining  seats. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  said  that  at  first  the  two  men  bowed 
ceremoniously  but  said  nothing  more  than  "Good-morn- 
ing, sir."  This  was  kept  up  until  the  committees  were 
announced.  Senator  Jackson  was  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Revolutionary  Claims,  and  Senator  Benton 
was  the  leading  member  on  it.  A  day  or  two  after  the 
announcement  of  committees,  Mr.  Van  Buren  heard 
Senator  Jackson  say :  ''Colonel  Benton,  will  you  inform 
me  as  to  your  earliest  convenience  for  a  meeting  of  our 
committee?" 

To  which  Senator  Benton  replied:  "General  Jackson, 
your  convenience  will  be  mine.  You  are  the  chairman, 
sir." 

"After  that,"  said  Mr.  Van  Buren,  "their  intercourse 
seemed  as  unconstrained  as  that  between  either  and  other 
senators.  Neither  of  them  was  ever  very  free,  certainly 
not  familiar,  in  his  manner  toward  any  other  senator, 
both  being  inclined  to  dignity  and  reserve.  At  a  dinner 
given  by  the  President  soon  afterward,  I  noticed  Gen- 
eral Jackson  with  Mrs.  Benton  on  his  arm,  and  she 
was  introducing  him  to  other  senatorial  ladies.  Then 
I  knew  the  re-establishment  of  friendly  relations  was 
perfect,  though  I  hardly  imagined  that  in  a  few  years 
Colonel  Benton  would  become  the  personal  representa- 
tive and  most  powerful  champion  in  the  Senate  of  the 
President  who  still  carried  his  bullet.  That  they  ever 
cordially  liked  each  other,  I  do  not  believe.  That  they 
profoundly  admired  each  other,  I  know.  That  Benton 
supported  Jackson  in  the  Senate  more  for  sake  of  the 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  165 

party  than  of  the  man,  I  beHeve.  That  Jackson  was 
keenly  grateful  to  Benton  for  that  support  on  personal 
as  well  as  on  party  grounds,  he  has  often  assured  me." 

Benton,  though  his  chief  support  in  the  Senate,  never 
asked  many  favors  of  the  President.  He  even  politely 
declined  some  that  were  offered.  Benton  was  exceed- 
ingly punctilious  on  the  score  of  political  morals.  Going 
as  he  did  all  lengths  in  support  of  Jackson's  administra- 
tion, he  held  that  he  himself,  of  all  men,  must  keep 
aloof  from  even  the  suspicion  of  being  actuated  by  the 
hope  or  enjoyment  of  patronage.  Jackson,  somewhat 
more  practical — or  perhaps  less  sensitive — could  not  at 
first  quite  understand  Benton's  self-isolation  from  the 
revv-ards  of  his  fidelity;  but  after  a  while  came  to  com- 
prehend the  motive,  and  his  appreciation  of  it  immeas- 
urably exalted  the  great  Missouri  Senator  in  his  esteem. 
'"Never,"  said  Mr.  Van  Buren  in  conclusion,  ''was  there 
so  perfect  a  combination  of  executive  and  forensic  forces, 
such  a  reciprocity  of  diverse  though  complimentary  per- 
sonalities, as  Jackson  in  the  White  House  and  Benton 
in  the  Senate  chamber!" 

'Tt  might  not  ineptly  be  suggested  in  this  connection," 
said  Governor  Seymour,  "that  modesty  forbade  Mr.  Van 
Buren  to  add  'and  himself  in  the  Cabinet' !" 

Of  Jackson's  work  in  the  Senate  there  is  little  record 
outside  the  yeas  and  nays.  Neither  of  the  two  sessions 
was  marked  by  great  measures.  The  long  session  last- 
ing from  December  to  June  preceded  a  presidential  elec- 
tion, and  that  is  customarily  a  season  for  evading  rather 
than  promoting  important  legislation.  Jackson  was  the 
only  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  the  Senate.     Of  the 


1 66       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

other  three,  one  was  Speaker  of  the  House,  one  Secretary 
of  State  and  one  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  So  Jackson 
alone  was  in  a  position  compelhng  him  to  ''make  a  rec- 
ord" in  legislation,  except  in  case  of  a  tie  in  the  House, 
when  the  speaker  might  be  called  upon  to  vote. 

Senator  Jackson  voted  on  most  roll-calls,  and  his  votes 
were  in  themselves  "planks  of  his  platform,"  as  far  as 
they  went.  Generally  speaking,  they  indicated  that  he 
favored  protection  to  industries  established  in  the  United 
States  and  a  tariff  for  revenue  on  products  that  had  to 
be  imported.  His  vote  "to  place  frying-pans  on  the 
free-list"  was  obviously  a  concession  to  the  frontier, 
where  the  frying-pan  was,  perhaps,  the  most  important 
single  utensil  of  cookery.  He  voted  for  every  bill  to 
aid  internal  improvements.  He  made  no  remarks  on 
any  question.  But  he  explained  his  attitude  on  the 
tariff  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Colman,  a  member  of  the  Vir- 
ginia legislature,  dated  April  26,  1824. 

This  letter  was  almost  immediately  published — at 
Jackson's  own  instance,  most  people  believed — and  he 
was  wont  to  say  to  all  who  inquired  that  it  "embodied 
his  views  as  well  as  he  was  able  to  express  them."  For 
the  rest,  it  has  been  said  that,  in  the  executive  session 
after  March  4,  1825,  he  made  quite  a  speech  explaining 
his  reasons  for  voting  against  the  confirmation  of  Henry 
Clay  to  be  Secretary  of  State  in  Mr.  Adams's  Cabinet ; 
also  that  he  concluded  his  remarks  by  stating  that  there 
were  other  things  he  would  say  if  the  session  were  an 
open  one,  but  which  he  did  not  think  a  gentleman  of 
personal  responsibility  would  or  could  say  behind  the 
shield  of  executive  secrecy. 

By  far  the  most  important  public  or  national  measure 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  167 

put  forth  during  General  Jackson's  term  in  the  Senate 
was  one  that  called  for  no  immediate  legislative  atten- 
tion. It  was  embodied  in  President  Monroe's  annual 
message  laid  before  Congress  Tuesday,  December  2, 
1823,  three  days  before  the  General  took  his  seat.  It 
has  passed  into  history  as  'The  Monroe  Doctrine,"  and 
into  the  polity  of  this  nation  as  an  informal  amendment 
to  the  Constitution  by  unanimous  consent — or  by  ''Sus- 
pension of  the  Rules."  It  met  with  the  enthusiastic 
approval  of  Senator  Jackson.  There  are  evidences  in 
his  extant  correspondence — rather  oracular  than  ex- 
plicit— that  he  anticipated  a  possible  necessity  of  vindi- 
cating it  by  armed  force  should  the  Holy  Alliance  un- 
dertake to  carry  into  effect  its  proposed  restoration  to 
Spain  and  Portugal  sovereignty  over  their  revolted  col- 
onies in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  It  is,  however,  barely 
possible  that  Senator  Jackson's  enthusiasm  might  have 
been  slightly  chilled  had  he  been  aware  of  the  fact,  then 
known  to  very  few  but  now  a  matter  of  common  his- 
tory, that  the  actual  originator — or,  as  Jackson  might 
have  said,  "instigator" — of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was 
George  Canning,  then  Premier  of  Great  Britain.  How- 
ever, he  learned  the  fact  afterward  and,  when  President, 
held  the  doctrine  as  tenaciously  as  if  there  had  been 
no  British  taint  in  its  origin. 

The  presidential  election  of  1824  was  remarkable  for 
three  events : 

First — It  was  illuminated  by  the  advent  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  as  an  organized  political  force  of  national 
scope. 

Second — It  was  the  last  appearance  of  the  "Congres- 
sional Caucus"  as  a  mode  of  nominating  presidential 
candidates. 


1 68        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSOX 

Third — It  was  signalized  by  the  agglomeration  of  all 
that  political  flotsam  and  jetsam  alike  of  Hamiltonian 
Federalism  and  Jeffersonian  Republicanism  under  our 
primitive  oligarchical  system  which  four  years  later  took 
shape  and  name  in  the  Whig  party. 

To  these  some  writer  of  cynical  tendencies  might  add 
a  fourth  innovation — the  counting-in  of  a  President  not 
elected.     But  that  is  a  subject  for  future  consideration. 

The  old  congressional  caucus  system,  as  we  have  inti- 
mated, though  clearly  doomed,  still  held  spasmodic  vital- 
ity enough  to  name  Mr.  Crawford,  of  Georgia,  as  the 
Democratic  candidate  and  John  Ouincy  Adams  as  the 
candidate  of  all  other  shades  of  opinion  represented  in 
Congress.  Mr.  Clay  and  General  Jackson  were  put  in 
nomination  by  the  legislatures  of  their  own  and  other 
States  or  by  State  conventions.  The  downfall  of  the 
congressional  caucus  system  marked  an  epoch  in  party 
management  by  giving — or  purporting  to  give — to  the 
people  the  nominating  as  well  as  the  electing  power,  and 
was  therefore  the  most  important  of  all  the  innovations 
of  1824.  Whether  or  not  it  was  an  unmixed  political 
blessing  and  whether  its  effect  in  the  long  run  told  for 
better  or  purer  party  management  is  a  question  for  the 
political  philosopher  rather  than  for  the  personal  biog- 
rapher. Our  own  view — if  it  be  of  any  passing  interest 
— has  always  been  that  while  in  one  sense  it  apparently 
expanded  the  power  of  the  people  in  exercise  of  choice, 
it,  in  another  and  more  practical  sense,  actually  crippled 
their  potency  by  lodging  the  real  exercise  of  choice  in 
the  hands  of  irresponsible  ''managers,"  generally  self- 
constituted,  and  thereby  superseded  a  system  of  repre- 
sentative centralism  that,  with  all  its  faults,  was  tangible, 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  169 

by  one  of  personal  Boss-ism,  which  is  elusive  in  form 
and  impalpable  in  substance.  However,  as  the  congres- 
sional caucus  system  is  dead  beyond  resurrection,  dis- 
cussion of  its  relative  merits  would  be  little  else  than 
unprofitable,  even  if  interesting,  political  archaeology. 

The  campaign  was  not  particularly  strenuous.  That 
is  to  say,  there  was  comparatively  little  vituperation. 
No  one  of  the  four  candidates  was  denounced  by  his 
opponents  as  a  usurper,  a  thief,  a  gambler  or  a  murderer. 
Mr.  Crawford  was  the  candidate  of  what  little  still  lin- 
gered of  the  Jeffersonian  apostolic  succession.  Mr. 
Adams  was  the  candidate  of  the  accumulated  wealth, 
the  large  commercial  aspiration  and  enterprise  and  the 
growing  culture  of  the  country — elements  more  respect- 
able in  character  than  potent  in  number ;  and  Mr.  Adams 
was  their  natural,  almost  inevitable,  exponent.  He  put 
forth  no  effort  to  secure  either  nomination  or  election, 
but  maintained  throughout  the  canvass  that  cold,  almost 
repellent,  reserve  in  public  character  and  manners  which 
was  so  singularly  antipodal  to  his  geniality  and  good- 
nature in  private  life. 

Jackson  and  Clay  were  the  candidates  of  the  people, 
of  the  masses,  who  now  for  the  first  time  struggled  to 
expand  the  right  of  suffrage  and  to  transfer  the  sceptre 
from  narrow  and  effete  Virginia  or  Massachusetts  to  the 
broad  and  brawny  West.  Jackson  was,  as  he  under- 
stood it,  a  Democrat.  On  all  occasions  he  was  wont  to 
proclaim  himself  a  believer  in  the  doctrines  expounded 
by  Jefferson.  But  whatever  his  theories  were — or  per- 
haps it  would  be  more  perspicuous  to  say,  whatever  he 
may  have  thought  they  were — Jackson  in  practice  was 
a  territorial  expansionist;  a  believer  in  a  strong  central 


I70       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

government;  he  despised  the  weakness  of  individual 
States  and  the  impotency  of  their  mihtia  in  the  emer- 
gencies of  war :  he  favored  a  strong  regular  army ;  he 
was  for  increase  of  the  navy  from  his  first  congressional 
vote  in  1796  to  his  last  message  in  1837;  whenever  he 
conscientiously  conceived  the  national  safety  or  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Union  to  be  imminently  jeopardized,  he 
was  capable  of  suspending  the  Constitution,  overriding 
the  civil  laws,  suppressing  legislatures,  arresting  courts, 
and  exiling  judges;  under  such  conditions  he  could  in- 
vade foreign  territory  on  his  own  responsibility,  subju- 
gate with  the  national  forces  the  colonies  of  European 
governments  with  whom  the  United  States  was  at  peace, 
and  execute  culprits  by  general  order  or  by  fiat  of  court- 
martial  without  reference  or  appeal.  And  then,  the  mo- 
ment the  emergency  was  ovei*,  he  could  relapse  into  the 
most  submissive  of  patriots,  the  most  law-abiding  of 
citizens.  In  short,  whatever  he  may  have  fancied  him- 
self to  be  theoretically.  General  Jackson  was  in  practice 
what  would  now  be  termed  an  Imperialist  of  the  deepest 
dye.  And  that  was  what  gave  to  him  his  marvellous 
hold  on  the  imagination  and  the  ambition  of  the  plain 
people.* 

From  the  beginning  of  Jefferson  to  the  end  of  Monroe 
the  people  had  heard  men  of  words  only.  In  Jackson, 
for  the  first  time  in  a  generation,  they  sazi'  a  man  of 

*  This  undercurrent  of  sentiment  was  once  aptly  voiced  by  William  Allen 
in  the  speech  which  elected  him  to  the  Senate  from  Ohio  in  1836: 

"They  tell  us  that  Andrew  Jackson  is  a  man  to  be  feared  by  the  American 
people — that  his  lease  of  power  is  dangerous  to  American  liberty!  Gentle- 
men, let  me  suggest  that  no  man  so  dreaded  by  the  enemies  of  America  as  he 
is  need  be  feared  by  our  people;  no  man  so  destructive  to  those  who  have 
tried  to  destroy  us  can  be  dangerous  to  the  liberties  he  has  defended!" 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE 


171 


acts.  They  did  not  trouble  themselves  with  elaborate 
analysis  of  the  acts.  They  simply  applauded  the  results 
without  question  and  apotheosized  the  actor  without 
argument. 

As  for  Mr.  Clay,  the  author  confesses  utter  incapacity 
to  comprehend  his  character,  to  estimate  his  motives  or 
to  analyze  the  mental  processes  through  which  he 
reached  conclusions.  We  have  already  suggested  that 
he  was  ''a  man  who  always  played  for  the  stake  in 
sight,  and  who  never  let  a  trick  pass  him,  no  matter 
how  high  the  card  he  might  have  to  play  to  take  it." 
That  expression  exhausts  our  ability  to  fathom  Mr.  Clay. 

The  campaign  dragged  along.  General  Jackson  did 
not  await  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  but  started  for 
Tennessee  nearly  a  month  before  it.  Arrived  at  home, 
he  took  but  little  personal  part  in  the  struggle.  As  a 
rule,  he  acknowledged  the  numerous  letters  and  papers 
sent  to  him.  Excepting  his  letter  to  Mr.  Colman,  already 
mentioned,  and  a  few  letters  to  editors  in  his  own  State 
which  were  published,  he  was  silent.  Toward  the  close 
of  the  campaign  he  began  to  believe  his  election  possible. 
There  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  he  considered  it  prob- 
able except  the  fact  that,  when  he  started  for  Washing- 
ton, the  4th  of  November,  he  took  Mrs.  Jackson  with 
him,  and  they  travelled  in  state,  with  the  great  family 
coach  drawn  by  four  splendid  horses  of  the  Hermitage 
thorough-bred  stock.  Editors  and  orators  opposed  to 
him  afterward  contrasted  this  display  of  grandeur  with 
the  republican  simplicity  of  Jefferson,  riding  to  the  Cap- 
ital from  Monticello  on  the  back  of  a  plantation  nag 
without  pedigree.  Such  criticisms  deserve  historical 
mention  only  as  examples  of  silliness  rampant. 


172       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

General    and    Mrs.    Jackson,    with    their    aristocratic 

equipage,  arrived  at  \\'ashington  the  night  of  December 

6th.     News  of  the  result  of  the  election  kept  about  even 

pace  with  them.     But  few  ''scattering  returns"  were  yet 

wanting  when  they  reached  the  Capital.     The  general 

result  was  known.     Neither  one  of  the  four  candidates 

had   received    a    majority,    either    electoral    or    popular. 

The  House  of  Representatives,  voting  by  States,  must 

render  the  constitutional  decision  provided  for  such  cases. 

By  the  middle  of  December  the  official  returns  were  all 

in,   showing  the  result   in   the   Electoral   College  to  be 

1     99  votes  for  Jac^n,  84  for  Adams,  41   for  Crawford 

I     and  37  for  Clay.     General  Jackson  had  also  received  a 

I     large  plurality^f  the  popular  vote.     Counting  by  States 

I     as  units,   for  voting  in  the   House  of   Representatives, 

'     Jackson  had   11,  Adams  7,  and  Crawford  and  Clay  3 

each. 

Under  such  conditions  the  country  and  the  candidates 
alike  waited  anxiously  for  the  operation  of  the  constitu- 
tional provision,  which  would  that  year  (1825)  take 
place  the  9th  of  February.  General  and  Mrs.  Jackson 
took  apartments  in  the  same  house  with  Lafayerte  and 
his  suite,  and  the  General  resumed  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 
Mrs.  Jackson,  in  a  letter  *  to  one  of  her  friends  in 
Nashville  of  December  2^^.  1824,  describes  the  meeting 
of  the  General  and  Lafayette : 

My  dear  husband  is  in  better  health  than  when  we  came. 
We  are  boarding  in  the  same  house  with  the  nation's  guest, 
Lafayette.  I  am  delighted  with  him.  All  the  attention,  all  the 
parties  he  goes  to  never  appear  to  have  any  effect   on   him. 

♦Parton,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  52-53. 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  173 

In  fact,  he  is  an  extraordinary  man.     He  has  a  happy  faculty 
of  knowing  those  he  has  once  seen. 

For  instance,  when  we  first  came  to  this  house,  the  General 
said  he  would  go  and  pay  the  Marquis  the  first  visit.  Both 
having  the  same  desire  and  at  the  same  time,  they  met  on  the 
entry  of  the  stairs.  It  was  truly  interesting.  The  emotion  of 
Revolutionary  feeling  was  aroused  in  them  both.  At  Charles- 
ton General  Jackson  saw  him  on  the  field  of  battle ;  the  one  a 
boy  of  twelve,  the  Marquis  twenty-three.*  He  wears  a  wig 
and  is  a  little  inclined  to  corpulency.  He  is  very  healthy,  eats 
hearty,  goes  to  every  party,  and  that  is  every  night. 

In  the  same  letter  Mrs.  Jackson  speaks  of  Washington 
as  ''a  great  city,"  says  she  "cannot  do  justice  to  the 
subject,"  and  observes  that  "the  extravagance  is  in  dress- 
ing and  running  to  parties."  But  she  "must  say  they 
regard  the  Sabbath  and  attend  preaching,  for  there  are 
churches  of  every  denomination  and  able  ministers  of 
the  gospel." 

This  was  Mrs.  Jackson's  first  trip  east  of  the  moun- 
tains since,  as  a  girl  of  twelve,  she  left  Virginia  with 
her  father  in  1779.  Her  presence  at  parties  and  dinners 
was  much  sought;  her  plain,  matronly  ways  captivated 
everyone  and  she  quite  evenly  divided  social  honors  with 
her  famous  husband.  She  had,  however,  no  taste  for 
the  gayeties  of  the  Capital  and  longed  for  her  own  serene 
Hermitage.     She  was  beyond  question  the  only  Amer- 

*  Mrs.  Jackson  seems  a  little  confused  in  her  history  here.  Lafayette 
was  in  Charleston  from  the  i8th  to  the  24th  of  June,  1777,  but  not  at 
any  time  thereafter  during  the  Revolution.  And  he  never  participated 
in  any  of  the  fighting  at  qr  about  that  city.  General  Jackson  must  have 
seen  him  there  in  June,  1777.  There  is  no  other  historical  mention  of 
the  fact.  But  there  is  record  that  young  Jackson  was  at  Charleston  in 
the  summer  of  1777,  with  his  Uncle  Crawford,  helping  to  handle  a  drove  of 
cattle  from  the  upper  country. 


174       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

ican  woman  that  ever  lived  who  had  no  ambition  to  be 
mistress  of  the  White  House  and  "the  first  lady  of  the 
land." 

The  question  of  the  presidential  succession  had  been 
simply  taken  from  the  popular  tribunal  and  focused  at 
Washington.  No  one  could  foresee  the  final  result.  The 
stake  was  great  and  the  game  desperate.  It  soon  be- 
came evident  that  neither  Mr.  Clay  nor  Mr.  Crawford 
could  be  chosen  by  the  House.  Mr.  Clay  was  barred  by 
the  constitutional  limitation  of  ''the  highest  three."  A 
brief  canvass  showed  that  Mr.  Crawford  could  never 
get  the  necessary  thirteen  unit  votes  of  States.  Among 
the  singular  provisions  of  our  Constitution  is  that,  in 
case  of  failure  to  choose  a  President  by  majority  of  the 
Electoral  College,  the  choice  sliall  be  made  by  the  House 
of  Representatives  elected  two  years  before.  This  pro- 
vision might  reverse  the  will  of  the  people  in  more  ways 
than  one.  The  House  elected  two  years  before  might 
not  represent  the  popular  will  as  expressed  in  the  presi- 
dential election.  It  was  so  in  this  case.  Mr.  Adams 
had  seven  States  to  his  credit  and  General  Jackson  had 
eleven  States,  as  determined  by  the  electoral  vote  of 
1824.  But  the  vote  in  the  House  elected  in  1822  was 
thirteen  States  for  Adams  and  only  seven  for  Jackson. 
Mr.  Crawford  had  only  three  States  by  the  electoral 
vote  of  1824.  But  he  received  the  vote  of  four  States 
in  the  House,  chosen  in  1822. 

This  apparent  anomaly  is  easily  explained  by  saying 
that  the  majority  of  each  State  delegation  in  the  House 
determines  how  the  unit  vote  of  that  State  shall  be  cast 
in  an  election  of  a  President  by  the  House.     It  some- 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  175 

times  happens  that  the  majority  of  States  in  the  House, 
by  unit  rule,  is  adverse  to  the  majority  in  the  Electoral 
College  by  collective  vote.  It  was  so  in  1824.  Though 
Mr.  Adams  had  only  seven  States  by  electoral  vote,  he 
had  eight  by  unit  vote  in  the  House.  Though  General 
Jackson  had  eleven  States  by  electoral  vote,  he  had  only 
seven  by  unit  vote  in  the  House.  And  though  Mr.  Craw- 
ford had  only  three  States  by  electoral  vote,  he  had  four 
by  unit  vote  in  the  House.  But  Mr.  Adams  needed  five 
more  than  his  normal  eight.  They  were  made  up  by 
Kentucky,  Ohio  and  Missouri,  which  had  cast  their  elec- 
toral votes  for  Clay,  and  by  Maryland  and  Illinois,  which 
had  voted  for  Jackson  in  the  Electoral  College.  North 
Carolina,  whose  electoral  vote  was  for  Jackson,  voted 
for  Crawford  in  the  House. 

Mr.  Adams  was  thus  elected  by  constitutional  major- 
ity in  the  House.  The  result  was  accepted  with  little 
comment  at  first.  There  was  no  mystery  about  the 
votes  of  Maryland  and  Illinois  for  Adams  in  the  House 
because  their  delegations  were  controlled  by  majorities 
favorable  to  him.  The  same  explanation  would  suffice 
for  the  change  of  North  Carolina  from  Jackson  to  Craw- 
ford. But  there  was  mystery  about  the  vote  of  the 
three  Clay  States — Kentucky,  Ohio  and  Missouri — for 
Mr.  Adams.  It  was  popularly  supposed  to  be  cleared 
up  when  Mr.  Adams,  after  his  inauguration,  nominated 
Mr.  Clay  to  be  his  Secretary  of  State.  The  executive 
session  of  the  Senate,  when  this  nomination  was  con- 
sidered, is  said  to  have  been  stormy.  Fifteen  votes 
were  recorded  against  confirmation.  Among  them  was 
that  of  Senator  Jackson.  We  have  mentioned  his  ex- 
planation of  the  vote  on  a  previous  page. 


176        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

According  to  the  reports  that  leaked  out — as  the  se- 
crets of  executive  session  always  do  when  any  matter 
of  superlative  importance  is  under  consideration — the 
principal  speech  against  the  confirmation  of  Mr.  Clay 
was  made  by  John  Randolph.  Among  other  things, 
the  Virginia  Senator  related  the  fable  of  the  wolf 
and  the  lamb  playing  together  with  result  that  the 
wolf  swallowed  the  lamb.  In  this  case,  however, 
the  lamb  had  eaten  up  the  wolf.  Afterward,  and  pub- 
licly, Randolph  proclaimed  it  to  be  ''a  coalition  between 
the  Puritan  and  the  blackleg!"  at  which  the  whole  coun- 
try laughed  except  Mr.  Clay,  who  made  it  the  subject 
of  a  private  meeting  with  Senator  Randolph  at  Bladens- 
burg,  the  bloodless  result  of  w^hich  made  absurd  what 
at  first  was  only  ludicrous. 

Then  resounded  from  one  .end  of  the  country  to  the 
other  a  hue-and-cry  of  "Bargain  and  sale" ;  of  "Treason, 
stratagem  and  spoils" !  Briefly,  the  theory  was  that  Mr. 
Clay  had  bartered  the  unit  votes  of  Kentucky,  Ohio  and 
Missouri  in  the  House  for  the  portfolio  of  State;  that 
Mr.  Adams  had  paid  that  portfolio  as  the  price  of  those 
votes.  The  only  evidence  was  that  Mr.  Clay  held  the 
office.  There  was  collateral  evidence  that  certain  friends 
of  General  Jackson  had  been  mysteriously  advised  that  a 
pledge  of  the  Secretaryship  of  State  to  Mr.  Clay  through 
his  friends  would  secure  the  same  votes  for  General 
Jackson. 

It  is  no  part  of  our  purpose  to  revive,  or  even  review, 
that  unsavory  political  legend  in  these  pages.  For 
nearly  fourscore  years  it  has  been  thrashed  over  ad 
nauseam.  It  has  been  used  to  point  moral  and  adorn 
tale  in  every  recital  of  the  sly  games  of  American  polit- 


PRESIDENTIAL    CANDIDATE  177 

ical  chicanery  from  that  day  to  this.  In  short,  it  has 
been  awarded  a  permanent  place  in  the  annals  of  political 
casuistry.  Let  it  rest  there.  The  real  place  earned  by 
John  Quincy  Adams  in  our  history  has  been  irrevocably 
judged  by  other  and  less  noisome  standards.  Mr.  Clay's 
standards  may  be  different.  But  it  is  certain  that  two 
are  always  needed  to  make  a  bargain.  And  whatever 
may  be  thought  of  anyone  else,  no  man  whose  judgment 
of  historical  characters  is  worth  a  hearing  will  ascribe 
such  a  capability  to  John  Quincy  Adams. 

However,  General  Jackson  believed  it;  believed  it  to 
his  last  day;  believed  it  as  implicitly  of  Adams  as  of 
Clay.  It  soured  his  already  suspicious  nature.  It  bred 
in  his  soul  enmities  that  racked  his  imagination  to  the 
end  and  hatreds  that  inflamed  his  soul  to  the  moment 
of  its  flight  from  his  body.  From  the  practical  point 
of  view  it  made  him,  from  the  9th  of  February,  1825, 
an  active,  earnest,  unsparing  and,  so  far  as  it  in  him 
lay  to  be  so,  an  unscrupulous  candidate,  where  before 
he  had  been  only  a  passive,  almost  indifferent  one, 
Vv'holly  in  the  hands  of  his  friends.  Saturated  with 
such  animosities  and  strung  to  vehemence  with  such 
resolves.  General  Jackson  went  home  to  Tennessee  in 
June,  1825,  and  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate.  From 
that  moment  the  words  ''Jackson"  and  ''Democracy"  be- 
came synonyms  and  political  contests  in  this  country 
resolved  themselves  into  pitched  battles. 


Vol.  II.— 12 


CHAPTER   VII 

ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY 

Lafayette  was  among  General  Jackson's  first  visit- 
ors after  his  arrival  home.  The  great  French  patriot 
had  left  Washington  some  time  before  Jackson  did  and 
arrived  in  Nashville  by  way  of  the  Ohio  and  Cumber- 
land Rivers,  after  a  triumphal  tour  through  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio  and  Kentucky.  After  a  public  reception  and  ban- 
quet at  Nashville,  at  which  General  Jackson,  as  the  ''first 
citizen  of  the  State,"  did  the  honors,  Lafayette  spent  a 
few  days  at  the  Hermitage.  .Major  Lewis  says  ''most 
of  their  conversation  was  about  the  American  and  French 
revolutions  and  the  Louisiana  campaign,  together  with 
a  good  deal  about  Napoleon.  The  subject  of  the  late 
election  was  not  mentioned.  The  marquis  compared 
New  Orleans  to  Waterloo,  with  the  conditions  reversed, 
which  highly  gratified  the  General.  M.  Lavasseur,  not 
being  familiar  with  the  mode  of  living  in  this  country, 
was  constantly  surprised  at  the  simple  habitations  of 
our  people,  even  the  most  eminent,  and  their  plain  style 
as  compared  with  his  own  countrymen  of  high  rank. 
But  the  marquis,  who  knew  the  Americans  of  old,  was 
quite  at  home  and  thoroughly  enjoyed  Tennessee." 

During  the  rest  of  the  year  1825,  and  a  good  part  of 
1826,  General  Jackson  gave  little  attention  to  public 
afifairs.     He  was  now  fifty-six  years  old.     Flis  health, 

precarious  at  best  for  the  past  twenty  years,  had  begun 

178 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       179 

to  improve.  His  old  enemy,  dysentery,  ceased  from 
troubling.  He  lived  more  regularly  than  in  former  years 
and  was  more  careful  of  his  diet.  The  long,  wearisome 
journeys  and  marches,  often  with  scanty  or  unwhole- 
some fare  and  inadequate  shelter,  that  so  strained  his 
system  and  sapped  his  vitality  in  former  years,  were 
ended  now.  Even  his  mental  activity,  hitherto  so  un- 
flagging, was  abated  somewhat  in  this  period.  He  wrote 
but  little,  and  that  mostly  on  private  subjects.  Occa- 
sionally he  answered  some  inquiry  or  corrected  some 
error  in  the  discussion  of  "treason,  stratagem  and  spoils" 
that  filled  all  the  newspapers  for  more  than  a  year  after 
the  inauguration  of  Mr.  Adams.  He  gave  more  atten- 
tion to  his  plantation  than  ever  before  and  materially 
increased  and  improved  his  breeding  herd  and  stud. 

Among  other  improvements  he  cleared  off  a  consid- 
erable tract  on  which  the  best  of  the  timber  had  been 
cut,  thereby  adding  about  two  hundred  acres  to  the 
estate  under  cultivation.  He  gained  not  only  in  strength 
but  in  weight.  Judge  Ballard,  of  Kentucky — the  rifle- 
man of  New  Orleans — who  visited  him  in  the  spring 
of  1826,  remarks  that  he  had  "never  seen  the  General 
look   so  well-fed   and   well-groomed." 

But  all  this  time  a  shadow  was  creeping  over  the 
hearthstone  of  the  Hermitage.  Soon  after  the  return 
from  Washington  in  1825,  Mrs.  Jackson  began  to  de- 
velop spells  of  dizziness  or  vertigo.  She  had  grown 
very  stout  of  late  years,  there  was  an  evident  accumu- 
lation of  fatty  matter  about  her  heart,  she  became  short 
of  breath,  and  could  not  stand  much  active  exertion. 
It  became  known  to  her  physician,  family  and  friends 
that  she  was  threatened  with  fatty  degeneration  of  the 


i8o        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

heart.  Yet  she  was  the  same  marvellous  housewife  as 
ever  and  as  tireless  in  the  offices  of  neighborly  benevo- 
lence and  charity.  Her  efforts  to  Christianize  the  Gen- 
eral were  redoubled.  She  used  to  tell  him  that  she  was 
not  long  for  this  world,  and  she  hoped  her  last  moments 
might  be  soothed  by  seeing  him  an  earnest  and  devout 
member  of  the  church.  He  promised — but  always  in- 
definitely. She  had  given  up  all  hope  of  a  serene  old 
age.  with  her  ''dear  husband"  by  her  side  in  the  peace 
and  comfort  of  her  beloved  Hermitage.  She  knew  that 
the  General  intended  now  to  try  conclusions  again  with 
his  adversaries  for  the  presidency,  and  that  he  would 
keep  on  trying  till  he  conquered  or  died.  That  warning 
letter  of  his  to  Colonel  George  Wilson  of  August  i8, 
1824,  was  always  before  her.  In  that  letter  the  General 
suggested  to  Colonel  Wilson -a  paragraph  for  publica- 
tion : 

General  Jackson's  course  requires  neither  falsehood  nor 
intrigue  to  support  it.  He  has  been  brought  before  the  nation 
by  the  people  without  his  knowledge,  wishes  or  consent.  His 
support  is  the  people.  And  so  long  as  they  choose  to  support 
him  he  will  not  interfere.  He  will  neither  intrigue  nor  com- 
bine with  any  man  nor  set  of  men,  nor  has  he  ever  so  combined 
or  intrigued.     .     .     .     It  is  the  people's  cause. 

This  suggestion,  made  in  1824,  was  looked  upon  by 
Jackson's  supporters  as  prophecy  in  1825,  when  it  was 
first  published  broadcast.  Mrs.  Jackson  recognized  in 
it  or  between  its  lines  a  declaration  by  the  General  that 
he  considered  himself  the  chosen  exponent  of  ''the  peo- 
ple," and  she  knew  he  would  never  shirk  the  responsi- 
bilities of  such  an  attitude.  She  therefore  ceased  her 
pleadings  for  retirement  to  private  life  and  left  her  bus- 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       i8i 

band  to  work  out  the  ends  of  destiny  his  own  way.     A 
Presbyterian  of  the  foreordination  school,  she  had  be- 
come convinced  that  the  General  was  predestined  to  the 
presidency,  and  she  believed  he  must  therefore  achieve 
it.     But  she  dreaded  the  consequent  necessity  of  living 
in  Washington,  with  its  "extravagance  in  dressing,  its 
incessant  parties  and  dinners,  its  vanities  and  frivolities," 
so   repugnant   to   her   primitive   Christianity.      But    she 
bowed  to  the  inevitable,  as  she  viewed  it,  W'ith  the  calm 
resignation  of  a  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord. 
^  In  the  fall  of  1826  General  Jackson  began  the  presi- 
den^al  campaign  of   1828.     He  did  not  begin  it  with 
a  brass  band.     His  first  step  was  to  organize  a  small, 
compact  and  highly  efficient  'liead-quarters  staff"  in  his 
own  State.     The  next  was  to  create  in  every  other  State 
a  similarly  compact  and  efficient  Jackson  group  to  ma- 
nipulate the  popular  preference  for  him  into  a  positive, 
dirigible  political  force.    This  was  the  beginning  of  that 
"organized  Democracy"  which,  aside  from  the  two  acci- 
dental interruptions  of  Harrison  in  1840  and  Taylor  in 
1848 — both   transitory — controlled   the   Federal   govern- 
ment from  1829  to  1 86 1.     Among  the  fanciful  theories 
of  General  Jackson  was  that  wdiich  he  often  expressed 
in  the  w^ords,  "I  am  not  a  politician."     It  was  quite  as 
fanciful  as  his  equally  iterated  proclamation  that  he  "be- 
lieved in  the  doctrines  of  Jefferson."     He  was  a  poli- 
tician; the  most  forceful  and  successful,  if  not  the  ablest 
and  most  subtile,  this  country  has  ever  known.     And 
what  he  really  "believed  in"  was  not  the  "doctrines  of 
Jefferson,"  but  the  Will  of  Jackson.     We  do  not  be- 
lieve   that    the    devoutest    Jackson    Democrats — among 
whom,    by   the   way,    the   author   of   this    w^ork    is    by 


1 82        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

heredity — will  try  to  dispute  these  propositions  at  this 
distance. 

"General  Jackson's  ideas  of  political  management," 
said  the  venerable  Francis  P.  Blair  to  the  author  in 
1873,  ''^vere  best  summed  up  in  his  own  words :  'To 
give  effect  to  any  principle  you  must  avail  yourselves 
of  the  physical  force  of  an  organized  body  of  men.  This 
is  true  alike  in  war,  politics  and  religion.  You  cannot 
organize  men  in  effective  bodies  without  giving  them 
a  reason  for  it.  And  when  the  organization  is  once 
made,  you  cannot  keep  it  together  unless  you  hold  con- 
stantly before  its  members  the  reasons  why  they  are 
organized.'  These  are  indeed,"  pursued  Mr.  Blair,  *'the 
broadest  generalizations.  But  in  them  is  embraced  every 
detail  known  to  the  management  of  political  parties." 

Jackson  was  a  politician  orr  a  very  large  scale.  The 
infinite  details  he  was  willing  to  leave  in  the  hands  of 
subordinates,  but  each  of  these  must  know  his  place, 
and  he  himself  must  always  command.  His  system  was 
not  one  of  argument  or  persuasion.  He  was  as  imperi- 
ous in  a  political  as  in  a  military  crisis.  And  all  through 
his  career,  in  forum  as  in  field,  the  element  of  personal 
control  and  responsibility  was  pre-eminent.  Those  who 
supported  him  must  do  so  with  all  their  might  and 
without  question  or  quibble.  Those  not  willing  to  sup- 
port him  on  such  terms  he  preferred  to  see  on  the 
other  side. 

We  have  already  described  him  as  the  "Boss"  of  Ten- 
nessee. In  1826  he  enlarged  that  role  to  the  Boss-ship 
of  the  national  Democracy.  What  he  accomplished  with 
such  a  "physical  force"  at  his  command  the  world  knows 
by  heart.     But  just  how  he  did  it  is  not  so  intimately  or 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       183 

so  widely  known.  By  the  end  of  that  year  his  general 
organization  was  perfect.  His  personal  staff  at  home 
in  Tennessee  was  made  up  of  Major  Lewis,  Senator 
Eaton,  Governor  Carroll,  and  one  or  two  others,  with 
the  veteran  George  W.  Campbell  as  general  counsellor 
and  adviser.  Major  Lewis  was  his  neighbor;  a  man  of 
culture  and  literary  tastes,  possessed  a  large  and  pro- 
ductive estate,  and  was  personally  devoted  to  Jackson. 
He  had  been  chief  quartermaster  on  the  General's  staff 
in  the  campaigns  of  1812-15,  and  in  that  capacity  had 
disbursed  immense  sums  —  '*in  final  settlement  for 
which,"  the  General  used  to  say  with  great  satisfaction, 
''the  government  appeared  the  major's  debtor  in  the 
sum  of  three  cents,  which  was  never  paid !" 

Major  Lewis,  though  not  quite  so  prominent  in  other 
respects  as  Eaton,  Carroll  or  Campbell,  was  more  di- 
rectly and  intimately  useful  to  Jackson  than  any  of 
them.  He  was  the  confidential  secretary,  who  looked 
after  the  correspondence,  revised  the  General's  letters^ 
which  was  no  light  task,  but  for  which  his  skill  as  a 
writer  eminently  qualified  him;  and,  generally  speaking, 
groomed  the  rugged  old  war-horse  on  all  occasions  of 
public  appearance  and  display.  It  is  doubtful  if  General 
Jackson  could  have  found  in  the  whole  country  another 
man  so  exactly  adapted  to  his  peculiar  needs  at  such 
a  momentous  time  as  William  B.  Lewis  was. 

John  Henry  Eaton  was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  but  was 
educated  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  He  inherited 
considerable  wealth,  and,  though  a  lawyer  of  thorough 
reading  and  more  than  ordinary  ability,  he  never  prac- 
tised to  any  extent,  his  income  from  his  inheritance  being 
ample.     He  was  a  gentleman  of  leisure,  lived  in  elegant 


1 84       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

style  and  entertained  lavishly.  He  served  in  a  volunteer 
capacity  on  Jackson's  staff  during  the  war  and  gained 
an  enviable  reputation  for  enterprise  and  gallantry.  He 
possessed  fair  literary  ability,  though  his  style,  like  that 
of  many  men  educated  in  Virginia  in  those  days,  was 
somewhat  pompous  and  turgid.  His  principal  work  was 
a  Life  of  Jackson,  published  at  New  York  in  1824, 
which  has  the  merit,  if  any,  of  being  the  only  biography 
of  the  General  prepared  under  his  own  eye  and  ex- 
pressly authorized  by  him  as  "d.  fair  and  just  account 
of  what  I  have  done." 

In  personal  bearing  Senator  Eaton  was  dignified  and 
impressive,  and  his  manners  were  the  extreme  of  court- 
liness and  self-poise.  He  had,  moreover,  a  genius  for 
politics  and  was  invariably  selected  for  delicate  missions 
to  the  head-quarters  of  various  State  organizations  in 
the  arduous  campaigns  waged  under  Jackson's  leader- 
ship. It  was  he  who  won  Van  Buren  over  to  Jackson, 
and  with  him  the  electoral  vote  of  New  York — or  a 
majority  of  it;  he  who  dethroned  Crawford  in  Georgia 
and  destructively  undermined  even  Clay's  supremacy  in 
Kentucky.  Eaton  would  have  been  a  much  more  im- 
posing figure  in  history  than  he  is  had  he  not  been  fated 
to  live  and  move  and  have  his  being  in  the  portentous 
shadow  of  Andrew  Jackson. 

Governor — and  General — William  Carroll  was  un- 
questionably, next  to  Jackson,  the  most  forceful  person- 
ality in  Tennessee.  His  origin  and  the  circumstances 
of  his  advent  in  the  Cumberland  Valley  have  been  men- 
tioned in  the  first  volume  of  this  work.  In  1826  he  was 
thirty-eight  years  old  and  serving  the  last  year  of  his 
third  term  as  governor.     Carroll  was  reputed  to  be  the 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       185 

handsomest  man  in  the  State,  he  had  a  large  fortune 
amassed  by  his  own  efforts,  and  he  spent  his  money 
as  easily  as  he  made  it.  In  18 14,  when  Jackson  was 
appointed  major-general  in  the  regular  army,  Carroll 
succeeded  him  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  Tennessee 
militia,  serving,  as  we  have  seen,  with  signal  honor  in 
the  last  Creek  campaign  and  at  New  Orleans.  In  18 18, 
when  Jackson  retired  from  the  management  of  the  Ten- 
nessee Democracy,  Carroll,  by  common  consent,  inher- 
ited the  leadership,  and  in  his  hands  the  "machine"  by 
no  means  went  to  decay.*  On  the  other  hand,  it  ran 
smoothly  and  vigorously.  In  1820  he  caused  himself  to 
be  elected  governor  and  held  the  place  for  three  terms. 
The  State  constitution  prohibited  more  than  that  number 

*  In  his  manipulation  of  the  "machine,"  Carroll  was  much  more  ruthless 
than  Jackson  ever  had  been.  Jackson  would  occasionally  permit  an  adversary 
to  gain  foothold— particularly  if  he  happened  to  live  in  East  Tennessee. 
But  when  Carroll  became  "Boss"  his  first  stroke  was  to  reduce  the  mountain 
stronghold  of  the  enemy.  He  did  it  with  a  thoroughness  like  unto  the 
subjugation  of  Athens  by  Macedon.  It  was  Carroll  who,  in  1823,  more  than 
all  others  combined,  forced  Jackson  into  the  senatorial  lists  to  beat  Colonel 
John  Williams.  And  then,  as  if  to  remove  all  doubt  as  to  the  conclusive 
nature  of  his  processes,  he  caused  the  defeat  of  all  but  three  of  the  legisla- 
tors who  had  dared  to  vote  for  Williams  on  joint  ballot.  It  may  easily  be 
imagined  that  the  spirit  of  rebellion  disappeared.  Singularly  enough  Car- 
roll had  no  ambition  for  the  honors  of  national  office  He  could  have  been 
chosen  Senator  on  any  occasion  of  vacancy  between  1820  and  the  time  of 
his  sudden  death  in  1844.  But  the  governorship  of  the  State,  which  he 
held  twelve  years,  together  with  the  power  to  send  his  friends  to  the  Senate 
or  the  House  of  Representatives,  seemed  to  fill  the  measure  of  his  aspiration. 
His  popularity  was  of  the  kind  that  penetrates  the  humblest  log  cabin.  Of 
Irish  extraction  he  had  all  the  wit  and  humor  of  his  race.  As  we  have  seen, 
he  could  crack  a  joke  at  the  expense  of  old  Sergeant  Sam  Williams  in  the 
imminent  crisis  of  battle  at  New  Orleans.  His  powers  as  a  raconteur  and 
at  repartee  were  proverbial.  The  nature  of  his  relations  to  the  plain  people 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  he  was  known  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  State  as  "Bill''  Carroll,  and  was  usually  addressed  with  that  abbre- 
viation bv  all  whom  he  chanced  to  meet 


1 86       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

of  terms  consecutively.  Therefore,  in  1826,  Carroll 
caused  his  friend  Sam  Houston  to  be  elected,  merely 
to  hold  the  place  during  the  two-years  interim  which 
must  elapse  before  he  would  be  again  eligible.  In  1828 
Carroll  was  again  elected  and  held  the  gubernatorial 
chair  through  another  constitutional  period  of  three 
terms  until  1834,  when  he  retired  from  politics  and  set 
about  retrieving  his  finances,  w^hich  more  than  a  dozen 
years  of  lavish  generosity,  uncounted  expense  and  gen- 
eral neglect  had  thrown  into  dire  confusion. 

In  five  years  he  was  richer  than  ever.  Carroll  com- 
bined military,  political  and  business  ability  in  an  aston- 
ishing degree.  He  was  successful  in  everything  he 
essayed.  His  education  was  as  thorough  as  could  be 
without  being  collegiate,  he  wrote  freely,  gracefully  and 
forcibly,  and  was  an  orator  oi  far  more  than  ordinary 
power.  With  all  his  charms  of  person  and  manner,  how- 
ever, he  w^as  never  a  conspicuous  social  figure,  preferring 
the  association  of  men  and  the  excitements  of  war  and 
politics  to  the  gentler  pleasures  of  *'high  society." 
Though  he  had  himself  fought  on  the  "field  of  honor," 
he  opposed  duelling  on  principle,  and  successfully  used 
his  power  as  governor  to  substantially  suppress  the  prac- 
tice in  Tennessee.  His  position  in  Jackson's  political 
head-quarters  staff  was  analogous  to  that  of  paymaster- 
general  of  the  forces.  He  looked  out  for  the  "sinews  of 
war"  whenever  any  might  be  needed.  It  Is  true  that 
"the  barrel"  had  not  become  a  force  in  American  politics 
as  early  as  i826-'27-'28;  but  "legitimate  campaign  ex- 
penses" had  to  be  met  then  as  well  as  at  later  periods. 

Ex-Senator  and  ex-Minister  Campbell  was  as  perfectly 
adapted  to  his  special  role  of  counsellor-general  as  his 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       187 

colleagues  were  to  theirs.  He  was  born  in  1768,  in  the 
then  Western  District  of  North  Carolina,  now  Ten- 
nessee, and  was  the  first  white  male  child  born  within 
the  present  limits  of  the  latter  State.  Though  only 
twelve  years  old  in  1780,  he  was  present  at  the  battle 
of  King's  Mountain  with  his  uncle.  Colonel  William 
Campbell.  Graduating  at  Princeton  in  the  class  of  1794, 
he  returned  to  Tennessee  and  became  a  successful  lawyer 
and  land  speculator.  He  and  Jackson  became  acquainted 
about  1795,  and  remained  close  friends  until  death 
parted  them.  From  1797  to  1802  he  was  in  the  legis- 
lature. From  1802  to  18 18  he  was  continuously  in 
public  life  at  Washington,  as  member  of  Congress  or 
Senator  or  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  from  1818  to 
1 82 1  he  served  as  minister  to  Russia  and  also  as  special 
envoy  to  Denmark. 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  public  services  he  was  a 
poor  man  and  had  to  recoup  his  fortunes  by  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  When  Jackson  retired  from  the 
Senate  in  1825  the  ''machine"  offered  the  succession  to 
Campbell,  but  he  could  not  afford  to  live  in  Washington, 
and  Hugh  L.  White  was  chosen.  The  same  reason  im- 
pelled him  to  decline  two  offers  of  cabinet  positions  by 
Jackson  and  also  the  post  of  minister  to  Prussia  in  1831. 
In  the  last-named  year,  however,  he  accepted  from  Jack- 
son the  office  of  commissioner  finally  to  adjust  the 
French  spoliation  claims.  His  acquaintance  with  men 
in  national  public  life  and  with  political  methods  at 
Washington  was  as  wide  and  thorough  as  that  of  any 
man  then  living.  He  was  a  strong  speaker  and  fluent 
writer  and  much  of  the  correspondence  in  the  great 
campaign  of  1828  was  from  his  pen. 


1 88        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

To  these  four,  each  perfect  in  his  sphere,  might  be 
added  the  names  of  Sam  Houston,  Judge  Overton  and 
George  Davidson,  who  from  time  to  time  played  such 
parts  as  might  be  assigned  to  them.  This  was  ''the 
Organization''  in  Tennessee. 

The  country  at  large  was  handled  by  States,  the  Jack- 
son ''machine"  in  each  being  constructed  with  equal  skill 
and  a  like  eye  to  maximum  efficiency.  In  New  York, 
the  manager  was  that  wonderful  disciple  of  Burr,  Martin 
Van  Buren,  w^th  James  Watson  Webb  as  the  chief  and 
James  Gordon  Bennett  as  the  first  assistant  in  charge 
of  the  journalistic  end  of  the  campaign,  and  with  Wil- 
liam L.  !^Iarcy,  at  the  upper  end  of  the  Hudson  Valley, 
in  a  similar  capacity. 

The  Pennsylvania  cohorts  were  marshalled  by  Duane, 
Ingham  and  Buchanan.  Jackson  never  quite  trusted  the 
last-named  after  an  episode  in  the  "treason,  stratagem 
and  spoils"  uproar  of  1825;  but  his  objections  were 
silenced  by  mutual  friends.  Even  if  Buchanan  did  sug- 
gest that  Jackson  could  gain  Clay's  support  at  the  same 
price  Adams  was  subsequently  accused  of  paying,  and 
even  if  Jackson  had  said  that  the  suggestion,  guarded 
as  it  was,  "gave  him  a  shock  he  never  expected  to  recover 
from" — yet  Buchanan  did  yeoman  work  for  him  in 
Pennsylvania.  Maryland  responded  to  the  McLanes  and 
Wilson.  The  Jackson  champion  in  Virginia  was,  of 
course,  John  Randolph,  with  a  brilliant  retinue  of 
Ritchie,  the  Masons,  McCartys,  Garlands,  the  younger 
Lees  and  a  host  too  numerous  for  individual  mention. 

In  North  Carolina  the  Jackson  standard  was  held  aloft 
by  General  William  Polk,  Branch,  Stokes,  Davie  and 
others.     Out  of  compliment  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  who  was 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       189 

the  Jackson  choice  for  Vice-President,  no  ^'machine" 
was  formally  set  in  motion  in  South  Carolina.  In  Geor- 
gia an  almost  similar  deference  was  paid — as  William 
Carroll  put  it — *'to  the  memory  of  the  late  Crawford, 
upon  whose  grave  Georgia  might  lay  her  vote  as  chaplet 
if  she  wanted  to;  as  there  would  be  enough  without  it!" 

It  was  not  at  first  considered  worth  while  to  waste 
much  powder  on  Kentucky.  But  William  Barry,  the 
Butlers,  Garrards,  Thompsons,  Ballards,  Amos  Kendall, 
Blair  and  other  Blue-grass  Jacksonians  could  be  relied 
upon  to  keep  Mr.  Clay  busy. 

The  Jackson  interests  in  Missouri  were,  of  course, 
lodged  in  the  keeping  of  Benton,  whose  power  was  suffi- 
cient for  an  effective  overflow  into  Illinois.  In  Indiana, 
the  brilliant  young  Edward  Hannegan  was  the  main 
reliance  of  the  Jackson  forces,  with  General  Cass  close 
at  hand  to  advise  and  guide  him.  In  Ohio  the  "Jackson 
organization"  of  1828  was  made  up  of  men  less  emi- 
nent *  than  those  we  have  mentioned ;  but  it  proved 
effective  and  carried  the  State  in  spite  of  General  Har- 
rison, who,  up  to  the  very  day  he  sailed  for  Bogota  to 

*  The  only  member  of  the  Jackson  organization  in  Ohio  for  that  cam- 
paign to  achieve  great  subsequent  distinction  was  William  Allen,  then  in  his 
twenty-first  year.  Young  Allen  made  a  hundred  and  seven  speeches,  trav- 
elling on  horseback  all  over  the  State,  besides  making  incursions  into  Ken- 
tucky several  times  for  the  purpose  of  bearding  the  lion  of  Ashland  in  his 
den.  Some  of  his  speeches  were  published  in  pamphlet  form  and  attracted 
the  attention  of  Jackson.  In  a  speech  at  Cincinnati  he  replied  to  General 
Harrison's  arraignment  of  Jackson's  invasion  of  Florida.  This  was  con- 
sidered a  masterpiece  of  the  campaign.  Most  of  it  was  reprinted  in  a 
supplement  to  the  New  York  Courier  and  Inquirer;  and  Benton  wrote  a 
getter  complimenting  the  youthful  orator  in  most  extravagant  terms — a  letter 
which,  in  1875,  the  then  venerable  governor  exhibited  to  the  author  with  as 
much  pride  as  he  felt  the  day  it  reached  him.  It  led  Jackson,  the  next  year, 
to  offer  him  the  position  of  United  States  district  attorney  for  Ohio — only 
to  learn  that  Mr.  Allen  had  not  yet  been  admitted  to  the  bar.     Allen's  letter 


I90       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

be  our  minister  there,  was  sure  its  vote  would  be  cast 
for  Mr.  Adams. 

Edward  Livingston  and  Colonel  Planche,  the  gallant 
Creole  soldier  of  New  Orleans,  kept  Louisiana  in  line. 
George  Poindexter  was  a  guarantee  for  Mississippi. 
From  the  Jackson  point  of  view  New  England  was  an 
arid  region,  but  the  unterrified  Isaac  Hill  and  his  New 
Hampshire  Patriot  waged  gallant  battle  against  hope- 
less odds  for  ''the  people's  hero"  among  the  granite 
crags,  and  worried  if  he  did  not  alarm  the  steadfast 
Adamsite  editors  of  that  region. 

We  have  devoted  so  much  space  to  a  detailed  account 
of  the  Jacksonian  national  organization  of  1828  in  order 
to  dispel  any  lingering  suspicion  that  General  Jackson 
was  in  earnest  when  he  used  to  declare  himself  to  be 
''no  politician."  Even  now,  with  all  modern  improve- 
ments in  travel  and  communication,  it  is  doubtful  if  so 
perfect  a  national  organization  could  be  created  in  so 
short  a  time  and  of  such  discordant  material. 

There  was  no  question  as  to  candidates  for  the  presi- 
dency. They  were  selected  by  the  conditions  of  the 
time.    On  the  side  of  Jackson  was  the  Democratic  party, 

of  thanks  to  the  President  was  characteristic.  "I  am  so  young,"  he  said, 
"that  I  reckon  it  will  be  best  to  let  the  people  have  a  chance  at  me  before  I 
aspire  to  appointive  office.  As  I  am  too  poor  to  visit  Washington  for  pleas- 
ure, I  shall  have  to  wait  till  the  people  elect  me  to  Congress,  when  I  may 
have  the  honor  to  meet  and  thank  you  in  person. " 

He  was  as  good  as  his  word.  In  1832,  when  in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  he 
defeated  his  father-in-law.  Governor  Duncan  McArthur,  for  Congress  and 
took  his  seat  when  only  a  few  months  over  the  constitutional  age  of  twenty- 
five.  He  received  the  certificate  of  election,  however,  from  the  governor 
whom  he  had  defeated,  a  few  weeks  before  he  was  eligible,  by  age.  The 
cyclopedias  of  biography  state  that  he  was  born  at  Edenton,  N.  C,  in  1806. 
The  family  record,  which  the  author  saw  at  his  home  in  Chillicothe,  gives  the 
year  as  1807. 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       191 

then  four  years  old,  eo  nomine.  On  the  side  of  Mr. 
Adams  was  everything  in  the  country  not  Democratic. 
It  was  still  an  agglomeration,  somewhat  more  distinctly 
crystallized  than  in  1824,  but  still  inchoate.  It  was  not 
organized,  it  had  no  discipline,  its  very  cohesion  was 
negative  rather  than  positive. 

Mr.  Adams  held  the  Utopian  theory  that  a  President 
who  does  anything  to  promote  his  own  renomination  or 
re-election  outside  of  an  acceptable  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  the  office  itself  commits  an  offence  against  true 
political  morality.  This  doctrine  was  not  calculated  to 
evoke  enthusiasm.  From  the  view-point  of  a  hereditary 
Jackson  Democrat,  we  cordially  admit  that  no  honester 
man  than  John  Quincy  Adams  ever  lived.  But  he  lived 
in  theory  on  a  plane  higher  than  that  with  which  he 
had  to  deal  practically. 

For  example,  after  he  was  inaugurated  in  March, 
1825,  a  great  many  of  the  quondam  Federalists  thought 
he  ought  to  turn  out  those  office-holders  who  represented 
the  Jeffersonian  apostolic  succession  which  had  lasted 
three  double-terms — twenty-four  years.  We  think  they 
were  right.  But  Mr.  Adams  thought  otherwise.  In 
all  the  civil  service  below  the  Cabinet,  the  foreign  ap- 
pointments and  a  few  places  actually  personal  to  the 
President,  he  turned  out  only  five — two  for  actual  cause, 
two  to  accommodate  Mr.  Webster  and  one  to  make  place 
for  a  friend  of  Mr.  Clay. 

The  result  was  that  when  the  campaign  waxed  warm, 
a  good  majority  of  the  Federal  office-holders,  holding 
over  from  Monroe  and  even  from  Madison,  proved  to 
be  Democrats  still  or  of  Democratic  preferences  under 
an  un-Democratic   administration.      Some   of   them   re- 


192        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

mained  quiescent.  But  the  vast  majority  of  them,  par- 
ticularly in  the  pivotal  States  of  New  York  and  Ohio, 
displayed  what  President  Cleveland  once  characterized 
as  ''pernicious  activity,"  and  were  formidable  factors  in 
the  opposition. 

Then,  the  Adams  party  itself  had  no  cohesive  force 
except  a  negation.  It  was  held  together  more  by  a 
desire  to  beat  Jackson  than  to  elect  Adams — ^though 
under  the  circumstances  this  was  cohesive  force  enough 
for  the  moment,  because  one  could  not  be  done  without 
doing  the  other.  On  the  whole,  the  support  of  Mr. 
Adams  was  not  only  unorganized,  but  it  yet  even  lacked 
a  distinctive  party  name.  It  was  not  the  Federalist 
party,  because  that  had  ceased  to  exist  and,  besides,  ]\Ir. 
Adams  himself,  for  his  support  of  the  war  of  1812  and 
for  other  reasons,  was  viewe4  by  the  old  Federalists  of 
his  father's  day  as  a  Democrat  and,  in  extreme  cases, 
as  "3.  traitor  to  his  traditions." 

The  name  ''Whig,"  though  already  bruited  about,  was 
too  new  in  this  country  to  be  found  in  American  polit- 
ical lexicons,  and  was  often  flouted  as  a  servile  borrow- 
ing from  English  politics.  Some  argued  that  it  was  not 
borrowed  from  England  at  all,  but  a  peaceful  perpetu- 
ation of  the  term  used  for  short  in  the  Revolution  to 
distinguish  patriots  from  Tories.  This  was  Daniel  Web- 
ster's philology  of  the  word,  and  it  may  be  accepted  as 
the  true  one.  However,  it  was  new  and  did  not  take 
well.  The  result  was  that  the  anti-Jackson  party  in 
1828  became  popularly  known  by  the  name  of  the  can- 
didate it  supported — "Adamsite."  This  was  by  no 
means  a  term  of  opprobrium.  At  that  moment  Mr. 
Adams  was  greater  and  more  illustrious  than  the  motley 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       193 

crowd  that  supported  him,  and  the  apphcation  of  his 
name  in  its  designation  was  more  of  a  distinction  to  it 
than  to  him.  It  really  was  the  "Adamsite  party,"  be- 
cause the  only  valid  reason  for  its  existence  was  the 
fact  that  it  supported  him. 

Under  such  singular  conditions  the  campaign  opened 
with  a  fury  fortunately  unknown  before  or  since.  Prin- 
ciples and  policies,  logical  arguments  and  sensible  ap- 
peals, were  scattered  to  the  winds.  It  instantly  became 
a  tournament  of  billingsgate,  a  jargon  of  vituperation, 
a  joust  of  epithet,  and  finally  degenerated  into  a  common 
brawl  of  vulgarity  and  indecency.  The  Jackson  papers 
and  stump  orators  could  not  find  much  material  for 
criminal  indictment  against  Mr.  Adams  except  the  story 
of  treason,  stratagem  and  spoils.  Mr.  Adams  had  lived 
openly  in  the  sight  of  his  country  since  boyhood.  His 
domestic  life  was  pure  beyond  even  suspicion.  His  pri- 
vate business  conduct  was  spotless.  His  public  life — 
which  embraced  his  whole  adult  existence — was  impreg- 
nable, with  the  one  exception  noted.  The  worst  they 
could  say  of  him  seemed  to  be  that  he  was  cold,  repel- 
lent, self-centred — ungrateful,  some  said — an  aristocrat, 
bred  and  trained  in  Europe  more  than  at  home;  alien 
in  his  tastes;  foreign  in  his  temperament;  pro-English 
in  his  institutional  sympathies  and  anti-American  in  his 
social  instincts. 

Beyond  these  things,  they  said  he  was  weak  on  the 
Northwest  Boundary  question.  His  tentative  agreement 
with  Canning  to  side-track  that  issue  for  twelve  years 
was  viewed  as  a  preliminary  truce,  to  be  ratified  in 
due  time  by  capitulation — which  proved  true.  The 
Jackson  people  declared  that  he  was  ready  to  barter  our 
Vol.  II.— 13 


194       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Northwestern  domain  to  old  England  as  the  price  of  free 
codfish  for  New  England.  That  important  element  of 
the  Jackson  forces  who  lived,  in  the  phrase  of  the  fron- 
tier, on  "hog  and  hominy,"  with  now  and  then  a  saddle 
of  venison,  had  no  sympathy  with  the  codfish  of  New 
England,  either  as  an  article  of  diet  or  as  ''an  issue" 
in  national  politics. 

The  fact  was — though  few  realized  it  then — that  Mr. 
Adams  foresaw,  by  two  generations,  what  all  clearly 
see  now;  the  inevitable  Anglo-American  rapprochement. 
But  all  these  things  in  1828  constituted,  indeed,  a  terri- 
ble arraignment  from  the  A\^estern  and  Southern  point 
of  view.  Though  grotesquely  exaggerated,  it  had 
germs  of  truth.  Mr.  Adams  answered  to  the  descrip- 
tion— more  or  less.  After  all,  none  of  the  traits  im- 
puted to  him  affected  his  integrity  as  a  gentleman  or 
his  rank  as  a  statesman.  But  they  wrought  havoc  with 
his  popularity  as  an  American,  and  that  was  fatal. 

Turning  to  the  side  of  Jackson,  it  was  clear  from  the 
outset  that  the  tactics  of  the  Adamsites  were  to  put 
him  on  the  defensive.  In  a  campaign  of  that  kind  they 
had  one  great  advantage.  Though  vastly  in  the  numer- 
ical minority,  the  Adamsites  possessed  at  least  three- 
fourths  of  the  American  press,  four-fifths  of  the  Amer- 
ican pulpit — so  far  as  the  pulpit  figured  in  politics ;  seven- 
eighths  of  the  banking  capital,  and  practically  all  the 
external  commerce  of  the  country,  together  with  its  then 
developed  manufacturing  industries.  All  these  great 
forces  in  society  viewed  Jackson  as  a  dangerous  enemy. 
He  could  be  beaten  only  by  loosening  the  hold  he  had 
upon  the  imagination  of  the  plain  people.  That  could 
be  done  only  by  breaking  down  his  personal  character. 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY      195 

This  was  the  real  cause  of  the  fury  with  which  he 
was  assailed.  Personally  Mr.  Adams  was  not  respon- 
sible for  the  spirit  of  the  campaign.  He  took  no  part  in 
it.  The  dens  ex  machina  was  Mr.  Clay.  This  fact  was 
well  known  to  the  Jackson  men.  Two  months  before 
election  the  irrepressible  Isaac  Hill  proclaimed  from  his 
eyry  among  the  New  Hampshire  crags:  ''This  is  Mr. 
Clay's  fight.  The  country  has  him  on  trial  for  bribery 
and,  having  no  defence,  he  abuses  the  prosecutor."  And 
again :  ''Clay  is  managing  Mr.  Adams's  campaign,  not 
like  a  statesman  of  the  cabinet,  but  like  a  shyster  petti- 
fogging for  the  defendant  in  a  bastardy  case  before  a 
country  'squire." 

The  reader  of  old  newspaper  files  and  pamphlet  col- 
lections of  the  Adamsite  persuasion,  in  the  absence  of 
other  knowledge,  would  gather  that  General  Jackson  was 
a  usurper,  an  adulterer,  a  gambler,  a  cock-fighter,  a 
brawler,  a  drunkard,  and  withal  a  murderer  of  the  most 
cruel  and  bloodthirsty  description.*  General  Jackson 
was  not  much  perturbed  by  this  tirade,  so  long  as  it  was 

*  One  day  Isaac  Hill  found  a  paragraph  in  a  Boston  paper  stating  that 
General  Jackson  had  committed  twelve  murders — Dickinson,  Arbuthnot, 
Ambrister,  two  Indian  chiefs  and  seven  of  his  own  soldiers — all  in  cold 
blood  and  in  most  cowardly  fashion.  Hill  copied  the  paragraph  and  added: 
"Pshaw!  Why  don't  you  tell  the  whole  truth?  On  the  8th  of  January, 
1 815,  he  murdered  in  the  coldest  kind  of  cold  blood  above  fifteen  hundred 
British  soldiers  for  merely  trying  to  get  into  New  Orleans  in  search  of  Booty 
and  Beauty!" 

This  shot  "echoed  round"  the  country.  It  was  copied  in  every  Jackson 
paper — and  in  a  good  many  that  were  not  for  Jackson.  It  was  read  from 
every  "stump"  and  recited  in  every  tavern.  It  was  printed  on  three-sheet 
posters  and  displayed  on  barn-doors.  When  it  reached  Jackson's  eye  he 
remarked:  "That  Ike  Hill  must  be  a  devilish  funny  feller!  I'd  like  to 
meet  him!"  He  then  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Hill,  in  which  he  said,  among 
other  things:  "They  don't  seem  to  have  much  use  for  that  particular  '  mur- 
der' you  speak  of." 


196        HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

aimed  only  at  him.  Once,  when  Mr.  Blair  sent  him  a 
paragraph  from  a  Clay  organ  in  Kentucky,  of  particular 
virulence,  he  answered :  ''I  am  no  stranger  to  the  war- 
fare of  savages.  I  have  seen  the  tomahawk  and  scalp- 
ing-knife  before." 

But  the  Adamsite  organs  and  some  of  their  orators 
went  beyond  the  General  to  assail  the  good  name  of  his 
wife  and  even  to  slander  the  memory  of  his  dead  mother. 
That  was  too  much.  One  of  the  most  virulent  assailants 
of  Mrs.  Jackson  was  the  ''organ  of  the  Adams  admin- 
istration" in  Washington,  a  paper  called  the  National 
Journal.  General  Jackson  thought  that  Mr.  Adams  had 
power  to  stop  such  slanders,  at  least  in  a  paper  published 
''under  his  own  nose,"  and  reputed  to  be  his  personal 
organ.  But  Mr.  Adams  did  not  interfere.  From  the 
General's  point  of  view,  that  'made  Mr.  Adams  person- 
ally responsible  for  the  outrage.  It  was  this  episode, 
and  this  alone,  which  caused  General  Jackson,  when  in- 
augurated, to  refuse  observance  toward  Mr.  Adams  of 
the  courtesies  usual  between  outgoing  and  incoming 
Presidents.* 

This  atrocity  was  also  perpetrated  by  an  Adamsite  edi- 
tor in  New  Jersey,  in  the  form  of  an  anonymous  letter. 
When  it  came  to  the  notice  of  Jackson,  the  grim  soldier 
of  Tohopeka  and  New  Orleans  was  moved  to  tears. 
The  local  effect  was  different.     A  stalwart  Democrat, 

*  Commenting  on  the  incident  to  Mr.  Blair  some  time  afterward,  the  Gen- 
eral said  :  "Of  course,  no  one  can  say  that  Mr.  Adams  was  himself  a  black- 
guard. But  he  certainly  tolerated  the  good  opinion  and  support  of  one, 
such  as  it  was^  right  under  his  own  nose.  How  much  difference  there  may 
be  between  such  a  wretch  and  his  patron  is  a  question  of  personal  judgment 
for  every  gentleman  to  decide  his  own  way." 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       197 

meeting  the  editor  the  day  after  pubHcation,  demanded 
to  know  the  name  of  the  author  of  the  anonymous  letter. 
The  editor  refused  to  give  it.  The  stalwart  Democrat 
thrashed  him  within  an  inch  of  his  life — and  then  paid 
a  fine  of  $50,  besides  thirty-one  days  in  the  county  jail. 
The  stalwart  Democrat,  however,  subsequently  held  the 
office  of  postmaster  at  Amboy! 

So  the  wretched  spectacle  went  on.  Never  had  there 
been  such  a  presidential  campaign.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
there  may  never  be  such  another.  On  both  sides  alike 
it  was  a  disgrace  to  the  manhood  and  a  shame  upon  the 
decency  of  the  American  people.  But  when  we  measure 
its  character,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  it  was  actually 
a  revolution,  with  all  the  passions,  the  hates  and  the  fury 
that  revolution  engenders.  After  all,  only  ink  was  shed 
instead  of  blood;  only  reputations  stabbed,  not  men. 
All  the  time  the  Jackson  cause  gained  ground  and  the 
Adams  fortunes  waned  day  by  day. 

About  two  months  before  election,  'Barry,  Kendall, 
Blair,  Ballard,  the  Butlers  and  others  announced  to  the 
"general  head-quarters  staff"  that  they  had  shaken  Clay's 
hold  on  Kentucky  to  a  point  where  the  State  could  be 
carried  out  from  under  him.  Jackson  then  ordered  a 
general  onslaught  upon  Kentucky  from  every  point  of 
the  compass.  Even  the  titanic  Benton  strode  out  of 
Missouri  to  pitch  battle  against  his  wife's  uncle  on  his 
own  blue-grass.  William  Carroll  and  John  Coffee  made 
a  pilgrimage  to  Harrodsburg  to  enlist  once  more  their 
old  comrade,  John  Adair,  under  the  Jackson  standard. 
The  suave  and  stately  Eaton  flitted  noiselessly  about  the 
State,  making — not  speeches,  but — well,  let  the  rest  of 


198        HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

the  sentence  be  understood.*  Judge  Overton  bore  a 
master  hand;  such  a  hand  as  only  a  Kentucky  pioneer, 
transplanted  to  Tennessee,  could  bear.  The  son  of 
Daniel  Boone  f — Nathan — came  with  Benton  from  Mis- 
souri to  stir  up  the  memories  of  the  Dark  and  Bloody 
Ground. 

Suddenly  poor  ]\Ir.  Clay  saw  the  fine  fabric  of  his 
pride  and  his  hopes  tottering  all  around  him.  In  a  few 
weeks  he  was  overwhelmed  amid  the  debris  of  its  down- 
fall. Kentucky  went  for  Jackson.  Yet  Jackson  was 
*'no  politician" ! 

We  have  devoted  to  this  campaign  a  space  which 
would  be  undue  but  for  its  unique  character  in  all  our 
history.  As  already  intimated,  the  real,  substantial  issue 
at  stake  was  set  aside.  That,  was  the  expansion  or  lib- 
eration of  the  elective  franchise.  It  was  hardly  men- 
tioned in  the  canvass- — except  here  and  there  in  State 
platforms.     Election  came  and  in  due  time  the  result 

*  There  was  outcry  long  and  loud  from  the  adherents  of  Mr.  Clay  that 
Jackson  "bought  the  vote  of  Kentucky  by  shameless  barter  of  Federal  pat- 
ronage." It  is  quite  true  that  the  men  who  carried  Kentucky  for  Jackson 
"out  from  under  the  feet  of  Mr.  Clay"  were  not  ignored  when  the  distri- 
bution of  prizes  occurred.  Whatever  Senator  Eaton  may  have  done  during 
what  the  Clay  people  called  his  "Kentucky  still-hunt,"  there  is  no  record 
of  promises  dishonored.  No  complaint  was  ever  heard.  Whatever  he  may 
have  done,  history  is  clear  as  to  what  he  avoided  doing.  He  did  not  retain 
any  pronounced  supporter  of  Mr.  Clay  in  Federal  office. 

t  Years  before  this  time,  Nathan  Boone  had  visited  Nashville  and  stopped 
at  the  Nashville  Inn.  He  had  never  seen  General  Jackson.  The  latter, 
coming  into  town  from  the  Hermitage,  learned  that  a  son  of  Daniel  Boone 
was  in  the  city.  Hunting  him  up  at  once,  the  General  seized  him — bag  and 
baggage — and  bore  him  off  to  the  Hermitage,  declaring  that  "Old  Dan 
Boone's  dog  couldn't  stay  at  a  hotel  within  his  reach,  to  say  nothing  about 
a  son!"  At  the  time  under  consideration  Nathan  Boone  was  a  State  Sena- 
tor in  Missouri,  and  one  of  Benton's  most  valued  lieutenants. 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       199 

was  announced.  Jackson  had  178  electoral  votes.  Mr. 
Adams  received  83,  more  than  two-thirds  going  to  Jack- 
son. In  the  popular  vote  Jackson's  majority  was  even 
proportionately  greater.  Both  branches  of  Congress 
were  Democratic;  the  House  overwhelmingly,  the  Sen- 
ate safely.  The  six  New  England  States  were  solid 
for  Adams — except  a  single  vote  in  Maine — together 
with  New  Jersey  and  Delaware.  The  whole  West  and 
South,  with  Pennsylvania,  wxre  solid  for  Jackson.  New 
York  (20  for  Jackson  and  16  for  Adams)  and  Mary- 
land (6  for  Jackson  and  5  for  Adams)  were  divided. 
But  on  the  whole,  it  was  "a  clean  sweep,"  soon  to  be 
followed  by  another  one. 

By  Tuesday,  December  9th,  the  returns  that  had 
reached  Nashville  apparently  assured  the  election  of 
General  Jackson  by  200  electoral  votes  to  62  for  Mr. 
Adams,  it  then  being  supposed  that  Jackson  would  re- 
ceive the  entire  votes  of  New  York  and  Maryland. 
General  William  Carroll  rode  out  to  the  Hermitage  with 
the  news.  He  found  only  Mrs.  Jackson  at  home,  the 
General  and  Major  Lewis  having  gone  down  to  the  old 
place  at  Clover  Bottom  on  some  business.  Carroll  al- 
ways addressed  Mrs.  Jackson  as  ''mother." 

So  he  said :  *T  suppose,  mother,  you  want  to  hear  the 
news." 

*'0h,  William,  I  can  guess  what  it  is,  from  all  I  have 
been  hearing  of  late,  and  from  your  own  manner." 

"Yes,  the  General  is  elected.  He  seems  to  have  all 
the  electoral  votes  except  about  sixty — over  three- 
fourths!  You  may  as  well  get  ready  for  moving  into 
the  White  House." 

Mrs.   Jackson  was   silent   for   a   couple  of  minutes. 


200       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Finally:  ''Well,  William,  Fm  glad  of  it  for  Mr.  Jack- 
son's sake,  because  it  is  his  ambition.  For  me  it  is  but 
one  more  burden.  Even  if  I  was  qualified  in  other  ways 
to  do  the  honors  of  the  White  House,  my  health  is  not 
good  enough  to  bear  the  strain.  I  am  much  farther 
from  being  well  than  you  would  think  just  from  looking 
at  me."  * 

General  Jackson  and  Major  Lewis  soon  returned  and 
the  "general  head-quarters  staff"  retired  to  the  library 
to  consider  the  situation  and  look  over  the  mass  of  con- 
fidential correspondence  that  General  Carroll  brought. 

"General  Jackson,"  says  Major  Lewis,  "showed  no 
elation.  In  fact,  he  had  for  some  time  considered  his 
election  sure,  the  only  question  in  his  mind  now  being 
the  extent  of  majority.  When  he  finished  looking 
over  the  summary  by  States,  his  only  remark  was  that, 
considering  the  odds  against  him,  Isaac  Hill  had  done 
wonders  in  New  Hampshire.  After  a  while  tea  was 
announced.  Mrs.  Jackson,  as  usual,  led  the  table-talk. 
But  she  did  not  say  anything  on  the  great  subject  except 
that  she  was  going  to  try  and  persuade  one  or  two  of 
her  nieces  to  go  and  help  her  in  the  social  duties  of  the 
White  House.  One  was  Miss  Donelson,  her  own  niece, 
the  other  Mrs.  Emily,  wife  of  her  nephew,  Andrew 
Jackson  Donelson,  who  was  to  be  private  secretary. 
How  little  anyone  suspected  the  sadness  so  soon  to 
come." 

By  the  17th  of  December  the  exact  result  was  known, 
and  the  assembled  representative  people  of  the  whole 
State  at  Nashville  determined  to  give  a  reception,  ban- 
quet and  ball  the  next  Tuesday — December  23d — which 

*  From  General  Carroll's  eulogy,  after  her  funeral. 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY      aoi 

should  surpass  any  social  occasion  ever  seen  in  the 
Southwest — surpass  even  the  celebration  in  New  Or- 
leans, January  8,  1828,  of  the  battle  anniversary.  But 
on  the  17th  of  December  Mrs.  Jackson  was  seized  with 
faintness,  difficult  respiration,  and  other  symptoms  of 
heart  trouble.  Some  attributed  it  to  excitement  over  the 
triumph  of  her  husband.  But  it  was  more  probably  a 
reaction  from  the  strain  to  which  her  mind  had  been 
subjected  so  long.  She  rallied,  however,  and  by  Satur- 
day, the  20th,  was  apparently  much  better  again,  though 
weak.  Sunday,  the  21st,  she  did  not  feel  able  to  attend 
the  little  Hermitage  chapel,  but  religious  exercises  were 
observed  in  the  mansion.  She  was  able  to  sit  up  a  little 
in  the  afternoon  and  conversed  with  her  neighbors  as 
cheerfully  as  usual.  Monday  she  appeared  to  be  much 
better,  but  kept  her  couch  most  of  the  day.  About  dark, 
Monday  evening,  she  rose  without  assistance  and  sat  in 
her  easy  chair.  The  General  happened  to  be  out  of  the 
room  at  this  time.  All  at  once  the  end  came.  The 
General,  hearing  her  cry,  was  at  her  side  in  an  instant. 
He  told  the  attending  physician.  Dr.  Robertson,  to  bleed 
her,  but  the  vein  in  her  temple  made  no  response  to  the 
lancet.     Rachel  Jackson  was  dead. 

The  effect  of  such  a  bereavement  upon  General  Jack- 
son cannot  be  described.  For  more  than  sixteen  hours, 
though  already  worn  out  with  almost  sleepless  watching 
by  her  bedside,  he  stayed  beside  the  corpse — tearless, 
speechless,  almost  expressionless.  Finally  Carroll,  Cof- 
fee, Rutledge,  Lewis  and  other  friends  who  had  flocked 
in,  persuaded  him  to  retire  to  his  own  room  and  try 
to  get  some  sleep.  Addressing  General  Coffee,  he  said : 
''John,  can  you  realize  that  she  is  dead?  I  certainly 
can't!" 


202       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

However,  he  went  to  his  room  and  soon  fell  asleep 
from  sheer  exhaustion.  Of  course,  all  public  demonstra- 
tions in  that  region  were  at  an  end.  Jackson  passed 
all  his  w^aking  hours  by  his  wife's  coffin  until  the  funeral. 
She  was  buried  in  a  corner  of  the  Hermitage  garden 
amid  the  rose-bushes  she  had  planted.  At  the  graveside 
were  men  whose  names  can  never  perish  from  the  pages 
of  American  history.  With  or  near  them  stood  the 
negro  slaves  of  the  Jackson  household.  A  lady  in  the 
family  of  Major  Rutledge,  the  General's  old  aide-de- 
camp, has  placed  on  record  the  following  picture  of  the 
scene : 

In  the  tall,  trembling,  grief-stricken  man  who  gazed  blankly 
and  with  dry  eyes  upon  the  lid  of  that  plain  coffin-box  as  the 
first  shovelful  of  earth  descended  upon  it,  and  who  in  his 
speechless  grief  could  only  wring  his  thin,  bony  hands  and 
groan,  none  would  have  recognized  a  President-elect  of  the 
United  States.  Among  his  old  friends  there  was  General  Adair, 
Governor  of  Kentucky,  one  of  his  trusty  lieutenants  at  New 
Orleans.  General  Adair  had  come  by  express  invitation  to  at- 
tend the  grand  banquet  that  was  prepared  at  Nashville,  but 
found  a  funeral  instead.  My  father  had  told  me  that  some  years 
before  an  angry  controversy  over  some  official  matter  occurred 
between  Generals  Jackson  and  Adair.  But  that  trouble  had  long 
ago  been  composed  and  they  were  good  friends  again.  General 
Adair,  being  one  of  my  father's  old  friends,  was  my  escort 
there. 

When  General  Jackson  finally  turned  away  from  the  tomb 
he  actually  tottered  so  that  General  Adair  let  go  my  arm  and 
took  that  of  his  old  commander — I  verily  believe  to  keep  him 
from  falling.  He  said  to  Adair,  "John,  it  is  very  good  of  you 
to  be  here  and  comfort  me  now.  You  have  been  with  me  be- 
fore when  I  needed  you."  General  Adair  could  hardly  find 
words,  but  his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  He  and  General  Cotfee 
then  walked  with  General  Jackson — one  on  each  side  of  him — 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY       203 

to  the  house.  General  Carroll  offered  me  his  arm,  and  we 
walked  along  behind  them.  There  were  so  many  people  in  the 
house  it  was  not  easy  to  get  through  the  hall.  But  finally  a 
way  was  made,  and  General  Jackson  reached  the  room  he  used 
as  his  private  office.  There  all  soon  took  leave  of  him  except 
Generals  Coffee,  Carroll  and  Adair  and  Major  Lewis. 

As  I  was  leaving  the  room  I  noticed  that  he  was  brightening 
up  and  heard  him  say,  in  answer  to  some  remark  by  one  of  his 
generals,  "Oh,  yes,  oh,  yes,  we're  all  nothing  but  poor  creatures 
anyhow.  No  matter  what  we  gain  there  is  always  some  loss 
that  takes  it  all  away !" 

If  I  had  not  seen,  I  could  not  have  believed  that  General 
Jackson  could  be  so  prostrated  with  sorrow.  I  had  known  him 
since  I  was  a  little  girl,  but  only  to  see  him  occasionally. 
From  what  people  continually  said  about  him  I  thought  he  was 
made  of  iron  or  his  heart  of  stone.  But  now  I  knew  better,  and 
from  that  moment  I  changed  my  whole  opinion  of  him.  He 
certainly  had  been  in  many  cruel  scenes.  But  he  could  not 
help  it.  Duty  called  him  there.  By  nature  I  am  sure  he  was 
a  real  good,  true,  tender-hearted  man. 

It  was  a  singularly  touching  coincidence  that  such  a 
man  as  Jackson  should  have  had  all  three  *  of  his  im- 
mortal old  lieutenants  by  his  side  again  at  such  a  mo- 
ment; so  different  from  the  scenes  of  his  glory  and 
theirs ! 

*  It  is  true,  as  related  by  the  fair  writer,  that  General  Adair  attended  the 
funeral  of  Mrs.  Jackson.  But  he  happened  to  be  in  Nashville  at  the  time 
on  business  and  not  as  a  guest  invited  to  the  great  demonstration  that  had 
been  arranged.  The  feeling  roused  between  Adair  and  Jackson  by  their 
quarrel  in  1817,  heretofore  noticed,  was  not  yet  altogether  allayed.  While 
this  might  have  prevented  him  from  attending  a  personal  or  political  dem- 
onstration in  honor  of  General  Jackson  as  President-elect,  it  could  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Jackson,  whom  Adair  had  known 
when  his  relations  with  her  husband  were  pleasant  and  to  whom  he  was 
personally  grateful  for  many  courtesies.  Adair  was  never  a  warm  supporter 
of  Jackson  in  politics.  He  served  in  Congress  as  a  Democrat  while  Jack- 
son was  President,  but  always  maintained  an  attitude  of  independence. 


204       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

General  Jackson  believed  that  the  cause  of  his  wife's 
illness  and  death  was  the  series  of  shocks  inflicted 
upon  her  by  the  savage  malignity  of  the  Adamsite  press. 
Some  time  after  the  funeral  he  went  to  her  tomb,  accom- 
panied by  Major  Lewis,  young  Andrew  J.  Donelson,  the 
latter's  wife,  Emily,  and  Mary  Donelson.  One  of  the 
party  relates  that  the  General,  after  arranging  the 
branches  of  a  rose-bush  at  the  foot  of  the  mound, 
clasped  his  hands  and  said,  as  if  talking  to  himself: 
"She  was  murdered — murdered  by  slanders  that  pierced 
her  heart!  IMay  God  Almighty  forgive  her  murderers 
as  I  know  she  forgave  them!    I  never  can!" 

And  he  never  did. 

Throughout  the  rest  of  his  life  he  never  spoke  of  her 
except  as  ''that  sainted  woman."  Everyone  in  whose 
veins  the  blood  of  her  family  flowed,  no  matter  how 
remotely,  became  ''his  children."  It  was  a  beautiful 
and  a  wonderful  devotion. 

Time  was  scant  for  mourning.  The  busy  world  might 
leave  a  humble  man  alone  with  his  grief,  but  not  a 
President-elect.  The  funeral  occurred  the  day  after 
Christmas.  Only  a  little  over  two  months  intervened 
between  that  time  and  inauguration.  In  that  brief  period 
must  occur  the  journey  to  Washington,  made  more  diffi- 
cult than  usual  by  ice  in  the  upper  Ohio  and  snow-drifts 
in  the  mountains.  The  inaugural  message  must  be 
thought  out  and  prepared.  The  cabinet  must  be  ar- 
ranged. Besides  these  requirements,  which  of  course 
had  similarly  confronted  every  preceding  President-elect, 
there  was  in  Jackson's  case  a  problem  more  formidable 
than  any  of  them;  a  problem  not  hitherto  presented. 
It  was  that  complete  reorganization  of  the  Federal  civil 


ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY      205 

service  which,  though  not  specifically  put  forward  as  an 
"issue  in  the  campaign,"  was  well  understood  by  the 
President-elect  and  his  supporters  to  be  a  cardinal— 
though  unwritten— ''plank"  in  the  platform. 

The  inaugural  message  was  in  general  terms  dictated 
by  General  Jackson,  but  put  together  by  Major  Lewis. 
It  was  a  disappointing  document,   failing  to  meet  the 
hopes  of  one  side  and  the  prognostications  of  the  other. 
Its  tone  was  dignified,  its  comment  upon  public  topics 
conservative,    its    indications    of    policy    almost    vague 
enough  to  be  called  diplomatic.     The  Jackson  people- 
that  is  to  say,  the  great  mass  of  voters — had  expected 
a  ''ringing"  proclamation,  such  as  the  old  General  had 
been  wont  to  promulgate  on  the  tented  field.     They  were 
disappointed  at  its  tameness.     The  Adams  people,  high 
and  low  alike,  were  looking  for  a  fierce  philippic  against 
pretty  much  everything  that  was — or  had  been.     They 
were   disgusted   with   its   serene   reserve   and   impassive 
dignity.     On  one  subject,  however,   its  sound  was  not 
uncertain : 

"The  task  of  reform,"  said  the  new  President,  "will 
require  particularly  the  correction  of  those  abuses  that 
have  brought  the  patronage  of  the  Federal  government 
into  conflict  with  the  freedom  of  elections,  and  the  coun- 
teraction of  those  causes  which  have  disturbed  the  right- 
ful course  of  appointment,  and  have  placed  or  continued 
power  in  unfaithful  or  incompetent  hands." 

Whatever  the  authorship  of  other  clauses  may  have 
been,  the  source  of  this  one  was  Andrew  Jackson.  In 
phrase  somewhat  subdued  to  fit  the  august  occasion,  it 
was  simply  "holding  before  the  members  of  the  organ- 
ization the  reasons  why  they  were  organized."     Marcy 


2o6       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

afterward  condensed  both  into  an  aphorism — blunt  and 
graphic — ''To  the  victors  belong  the  spoils." 

On  all  other  points  the  document  was  purely  academic. 
It  proclaimed  those  doctrines  of  Jefferson,  in  which  Gen- 
eral Jackson  had  always  theoretically  believed,  and  it 
discountenanced,  if  it  did  not  denounce,  most  of  the 
policies  he  had  always  practised.  A  reader  of  that  mes- 
sage who  had  also  read  the  General's  earlier  and  more 
vigorously  expressed  views  upon  such  topics  as  the  need 
of  a  strong  standing  army,  the  impotence  of  State  mili- 
tia, the  propriety  of  "protection  to  home  industries," 
etc.,  might  easily,  in  absence  of  other  information, 
have  inferred  that  President  Jackson  and  Major-General 
Jackson  were  two  distinct  individuals,  opposed  in  most 
tenets  of  national  politics. 

With  regard  to  the  tariff,  he  did,  indeed,  reserve  a 
thought  in  favor  of  ''products  essential  to  our  national 
independence."  Such  products,  whether  "of  commerce, 
of  agriculture,  or  of  manufactures,"  he  thought  should 
be  protected.  The  probability  is  that  the  home  products 
most  essential  to  our  national  independence  were,  from 
his  point  of  view,  such  things  as  gunpowder,  lead,  iron 
for  rifles,  muskets,  artillery  and  cannon-balls,  cordage 
and  other  equipment  known  as  naval  stores — or,  gen- 
erally speaking,  those  commodities  indispensable  to  the 
national  defence.  If  so,  the  tariff  views  cautiously  set 
forth  in  the  message  were  purely  patriotic,  but  not  pa- 
ternal— as  they  have  been  made  by  later  policies. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

POLICY   OF   THE    NEW   ADMINISTRATION 

The  inaugural  message  being  prepared,  the  presiden- 
tial party  left  Nashville  Saturday,  January  17,  1829, 
on  a  steamboat,  bound  down  the  Cumberland  and  up 
the  Ohio  to  Pittsburg;  thence  by  land  over  that  great 
''Public  Improvement,"  the  National  Road.  Jackson  had 
travelled  that  road  before.  Its  benefits,  which  even  the 
strictest  constructionist  of  the  Jeffersonian  school  could 
not  help  perceiving,  may  have  suggested  the  clause  in 
his  inaugural  message  which  read : 

"Internal  Improvements.  ...  So  far  as  they 
can  be  promoted  by  the  constitutional  acts  of  the  Fed- 
eral government,  are  of  high  importance." 

There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  General  Jackson 
always  considered  the  National  Road  as  not  only  "of 
high  importance,"  but  perfectly  "constitutional."  Ac- 
companying the  President-elect  to  Washington  were 
Major  Lewis,  Andrew  J.  and  Mrs.  Emily  Donelson  and 
Miss  Hays,  a  niece  of  Mrs.  Jackson.  The  young  daugh- 
ter of  General  Coffee  and  grand-niece  of  Mrs.  Jackson 
was  to  be  a  member  of  the  party,  and  had  come  from 
Florence,  Alabama,  where  the  general  lived,  for  that 
purpose.  But  on  the  eve  of  her  departure  the  sudden 
illness  of  another  member  of  the  family  compelled  her 

to  return  home. 

207 


2o8        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

The  journey  by  river  was  slow  and  difficult  on  ac- 
count of  ice.  Great  crowds  flocked  to  see  the  presiden- 
tial boat  at  every  city  and  town,  but  in  consequence  of 
the  general  mourning  there  was  no  public  demonstration. 
The  party  arrived  at  Washington,  February  14th,  and 
were  temporarily  domiciled  at  the  old  Indian  Queen 
Hotel,  since  known  as  the  Metropolitan — a  perfectly 
Vandalic  change  of  name,  defiant  alike  of  tradition  and 
euphony. 

Arrived  at  the  Capital,  the  General  was,  as  always 
and  everywhere,  accessible  to  the  people.  But  he  was 
not  communicative.  At  least,  his  late  opponents  thought 
so.  As  near  the  inauguration  as  March  2d,  Daniel  W^eb- 
ster  wrote  to  his  brother  Ezekiel  that  ''General  Jackson 
is  constantly  surrounded  by  his  friends,  but  seems  to 
keep  his  own  counsel.  Very  Httle  has  been  given  to  the 
public.  .  .  .  Probably  he  will  make  some  removals, 
but  I  think  not  a  very  great  many,  immediately." 

Isaac  Hill  wrote,  the  last  day  of  February,  to  his 
assistant  editor : 

I  see  the  General  almost  every  day.  He  is  extremely  cordial, 
and  from  the  way  he  often  repeats  and  laughs  at  things  that 
appeared  in  our  columns  during  the  campaign  we  may  flatter 
ourselves  with  having  a  most  illustrious  reader  of  our  paper. 
He  says  little  about  the  future,  except  in  a  general  way.  I 
infer  that  in  New  Hampshire  affairs,  and  possibly  in  other 
New  England  States,  my  advice  may  be  asked  occasionally, 
but  as  yet  there  has  been  no  conference.  I  do  not  believe 
anyone  knows  his  intentions  beyond  the  Cabinet  itself  and  the 
list  of  that  was  printed  in  the  National  Telegraph  here  day 
before  yesterday  (February  26)  from  the  General's  own 
manuscript.  The  paper  will  reach  you  before  this  can.  It 
is,   as  you  will   see,   a   strong  cabinet,   judiciously   distributed: 


THE    NEW   ADMINISTRATION  209 

Van  Buren  and  Ingham  from  the  East;  Branch  and  Berrien 
from  the  South;  Eaton  and  Barry  from  the  West 

They  tell  a  funny  story  here  that  Wilham  Wirt,  who  has  been 
Attorney-General  a  good  many  years,  under  all  sorts  of  adm  n 
.strafons,  and  who  liked  the  job,  wrote  to  Monroe,  soliciting 
h.s  influence  w.th   the   Genera,   to  keep   him   on  th     pay-ro  f 
Monroe,   who   or.g.nally   appointed   Wirt   to   please   Jei^erson 
adv.sed  W>rt  to  resign.    JeiTerson  had  Monroe  appoin    Wir   as' 
a  reward  for  h,s  prosecution  of  Burr.    Adams  had  held  on    0 
h.m  for  substantially  the  same  reason.     But  General  Jackson 
does  not  owe  any  debts  of  that  kind 

No  one  knows  anything  definite  as  yet  about  the  subordinate 
offics,  except  that  changes  will  be  made  both  in  the  depart! 

s.dera  .on  of  md.vdual  merits  may  permit.     To  hear  the  old 
offic,  Is  ,n   the  departments  talk,  you   would  think   the  plac  s 
they  hod  were  their  private  property,  or  that  the  Governmen 
mus    collapse  .nstantly  they  are  put  out.    There  is  an  old  man 

n  the  State  Department  over  twenty  years-appointed  by  Madi- 
son when  Secretary  of  State  under  Jefferson.  He  expressed 
wonder,  the  other  day  in  conversation,  where  the  new  admtTs 
trat,on  would  find  a  Democrat  to  translate  "diplomatic  Fren  h" - 
Th,s  was  told,  as  a  good  joke,  to  the  General.  "Oh  just  HI 
h.m  •  sa,d  Jackson,  "that  if  necessary  I  can  bring  P  he- 
whole  Creole  Battalion  up  here!     Those  French   fellows,  you 

coats  that  had  just  made  all  the  translators  here  take  to  the 
woods  for  their  lives  !" 

Old  H.ckory  has  a  fund  of  humor  in  his  make-up.     But  mos 
of  h.s  salhes,  like  the  above,  are  likely  .0  be  a  little  bit  creh 

In  another  letter,  written  after  the  inauguration,  Hill 
corned  a  phrase  that  has  passed  into  our  poh'tical  the- 
saurus  as  a  synonym: 
Vol.  II.— 14 


2IO       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

You  may  say  to  all  our  anxious  Adamsite  friends  that  the 
barnacles  will  be  scraped  clean  off  the  Ship  of  State.  Most  of 
them  have  grown  so  large  and  stick  so  tight  that  the  scraping 
process  will  doubtless  be  fatal  to  them;  but  it  can't  be  helped. 
Just  add  them  to  Zeke  Webster's  and  Jerry  Mason's  list  of 
"Jackson's  murders"  ! 

This  was  only  personal  gossip,  as  between  an  editor 
and  his  assistant,  not  intended  for  the  public  eye.  Just 
how  Mr.  Hill  connected  Jeremiah  Mason  with  campaign 
libels  against  Jackson  is  not  clear.  Mason  was  an 
Adamsite,  it  is  true,  but  he  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  newspapers  or  public  speaking,  being  president  of 
the  Portsmouth  (New  Hampshire)  branch  of  the  United 
States  Bank.  He  may  have  assisted  Ezekiel  Webster 
financially,  and  Webster  did  write  pamphlets  and  news- 
paper articles.  Hill  was  him'self  a  director  of  the  State 
bank  at  Concord,  and  also  its  vice-president.  Through 
that  connection  he  may  have  found  means  of  learning 
how  and  to  what  extent  the  United  States  branch  bank 
at  Portsmouth,  or  its  president,  had  been  a  contributor 
to  the  Adamsite  campaign  fund. 

Perhaps  the  most  amusing  incident  of  this  period  is 
one  that  the  author  in  youth  was  wont  to  hear  from  an 
ancestral  relative.  The  relative  was  editor  of  an  ex- 
ceedingly stalwart  Jackson  organ  in  Ulster  County,  New 
York.  Naturally,  he  joined  the  innumerable  throng  of 
strenuous  patriots  who  went  to  Washington  to  see  the 
People's  President  inaugurated.  The  4th  of  March, 
1829,  fell  on  a  Sunday.  Our  relative,  notwithstanding 
his  unterrified  Jackson  Democracy,  always  went  to  church 
on  the  Sabbath.  That  particular  Sunday  he  attended 
the  sanctuary  where  the  Adams  family  was  wont  to 
worship. 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  211 

To  his  amazement — not  to  say  amusement — the  worthy 
pastor  chose  for  his  text  some  words  from  the  prophecy 
of  Isaiah,  foretelHng  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  The 
words  of  the  text  were :  ''What  will  ye  do  in  the  solemn 
day?"  Upon  this  text  the  learned  divine  discoursed 
feelingly  and  at  length.  The  relative  listened  to  the 
sermon  and  then  betook  himself  to  the  Indian  Queen 
tavern,  where  he  related  the  text  and  as  much  as  he 
could  remember  of  the  sermon.  The  concourse  of  men 
who  listened  to  him  were  undoubtedly  some  of  those 
whom  Judge  Story,  in  a  letter  written  at  the  time,  de- 
scribes as  "a  mixture  such  as  I  never  saw;  the  subjects 
of  King  Mob,  who  reigns  triumphant!" — or  words  to 
that  efifect.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  stalwart  Jacksonians 
assembled  at  the  Indian  Queen  agreed  with  the  reverend 
doctor  that  it  was  a  ''solemn  day" ;  one  exceedingly 
solemn  for  those  whom  Isaac  Hill  had  already  described 
as  the  "barnacles"  that  were  to  be  "scraped  clean  off  the 
Ship  of  State." 

The  Adamsite  organs,  now  that  their  cause  and  their 
candidate  were  hopelessly  beaten,  transferred  their  scur- 
rility from  General  and  Mrs.  Jackson  to  the  "horde  of 
the  unwashed"  who  had  come  from  all  quarters  to  see 
the  old  regime  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  go  out 
and  the  new  regime  of  the  plain  people  come  in.  To 
reproduce  their  jeremiads — or  even  to  epitomize  them — 
w^ould  require  the  addition  of  another  volume  to  this 
work.  Suffice  here  to  say  that,  while  there  may  have 
been  some  pretext  for  the  fish-market  tone  of  the  Adams- 
ite press  before  election,  when  they  may  have  hoped  to 
win,  their  persistence  in  billingsgate  after  the  verdict  of 
the  country  had  been  rendered  was  silly,  because  impo- 


212        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

tent,  and  the  next  thing  to  criminal  because  unpatriotic. 
The  inference  was  that  they  thought  the  vast  prepon- 
derance of  citizens  whose  votes  elected  Jackson  had  no 
right  to  even  aspire  to  office  under  him,  and  that  any 
policy  which  contemplated  the  ''scraping  off  of  barnacles" 
must  be  seditious,  if  not  treasonable. 

If  the  Jackson  regime  had  wanted  an  argimient  in 
favor  of  the  ''clean  sweep,"  it  need  not  have  gone  beyond 
calling  attention  to  the  temper  in  w^hich  the  "barnacles" 
viewed  themselves  as  owners  of  the  offices  they  held  or 
the  bare  proposition  of  turning  them  out  as  a  wrongful 
invasion  of  vested  rights.  Most  men  of  sense  will  admit 
that  governments,  so  far  as  they  may  be  establishments 
for  transaction  of  business,  should  be  conducted  on  busi- 
ness principles.  To  that  extent  a  permanent  civil  service 
— or,  in  plainer  phrase,  an 'office-holding  class — in  a 
popular  form  of  government  may  be  defensible.  But  in 
1829  the  "ancient  barnacles"  who  had  fastened  them- 
selves upon  every  clerkship  and  the  purblind  moles  who 
burrowed  under  every  Federal  pay-roll  carried  their 
spleen  to  the  rcductio  ad  ahsurdiim,  and  deserved  expul- 
sion for  their  folly  if  for  nothing  worse.  For  such,  the 
4th  of  March,  1829,  was,  indeed,  "the  solemn  day" — 
in  the  words  of  the  prophet. 

This  relative — who,  by  the  way,  was  a  younger 
brother  of  David  Buell,  elsewhere  referred  to — has  left 
on  record  a  graphic  account  of  a  visit  to  President  Jack- 
son in  the  autumn  of  1829: 

I  had  a  note  of  introduction  from  Mr.  Webb  [James  Watson 
Webb]  and  also  one  from  Mr.  Marcy,  who  was  good  enough 
to  mention  my  service  under  General  Dearborn  and  General 
Macomb   during  the   war    [of    1812].     I   also   knew   Mr.   Van 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  213 

Buren  personally,  and  he  gave  me  his  own  card  with  a  few 
words  written  on  the  back  of  it.  With  these  introductions  I 
easily  gained  access  to  the  President  on  a  favorable  footing. 
I  will  give  our  conversation,  as  I  wrote  it  down  the  first  thing 
after  I  left  his  presence.  He  happened  to  be  alone  in  his 
executive  office  when  I  was  ushered  in.  He  looked  tired  and 
worn  and  I  noticed  his  complexion  was  almost  sallow  enough 
for  jaundice.  But  he  was  alert  and  active  enough  despite  the 
feebleness  of  his  appearance. 

I  will  explain  that  the  object  of  my  visit,  besides  that  of 
paying  my  respects,  w^as  to  ask  the  retention  of  a  postmaster 
in  our  county,  who,  when  a  volunteer  landsman  on  board  the 
Lawrence,  had  lost  a  leg  in  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie.  He  had 
been  appointed  by  Mr.  Madison  in  181 5  and  held  the  office 
ever  since.  But  he  had  voted  for  Mr.  Adams  in  1824  and 
1828,  and  a  Jackson  man  wanted  his  place.  Having  been  a 
soldier  in  the  Niagara  campaigns  and  also  at  Plattsburg,  I 
naturally  sympathized  with  the  one-legged  man,  irrespective 
of  his  politics.  When  I  entered  the  room  General  Jackson 
rose  from  his  desk  and  said  abruptly : 

*'How  are  you,  sir?  Glad  to  see  you.  Can  I  be  of  any 
service  to  you?" 

I  then  related  as  briefly  as  possible  the  object  of  my  visit. 

"Lost  his  leg,  you  say,  in  the  battle  of  Lake  Erie?" 

"Yes,  sir.    Permit  me  to  say,  further,  Mr.  President " 

"Mr.  Marcy  says  in  his  letter  introducing  you  that  you  were 
a  soldier." 

"Yes,  sir.  I  was  on  the  Niagara  frontier  from  September, 
1812,  to  May,  1814,  and  then  went  to  Plattsburg,  where  I 
served  till  the  end  of  the  war." 

"Well,  then,  call  me  'General.'  I  like  it  better  than  any 
other  title  when  I  am  talking  with  soldiers !" 

"I  was  about  to  say,  General,  that  this  postmaster,  Mr.  T , 

has  a  boot  and  shoe  shop  in  the  village,  and  the  post-office, 
being  in  his  store,  helps  him  in  his  trade — a  consideration 
worth  more  to  him  than  the  income  of  the  office  itself.  He 
is   a   good   man   and   has   a   large    family.     The   people   there 


214        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

all  like  him.  But  I  must  tell  you  that  he  voted  against 
you " 

"I  don't  care  a  bawbee,  sir,  how  he  voted,  if  he  lost  a  leg 
fighting  for  the  country !  That  is  vote  enough  for  me,  sir.  If 
more  men  of  his  politics  in  the  East  had  exposed  their  lives 
for  the  country  as  he  did  in  that  war,  sir,  the  northern  cam- 
paigns might  have  been  more  satisfactory — more  glorious  to 
our  arms,  sir !" 

He  said  these  words  with  great  animation  and  emphasis, 
bringing  his  hand  down  heavily  on  the  table  beside  him  every 
time  he  said  "sir."  His  eyes  flashed,  the  sallowness  went  out 
of  his  face,  and  a  healthy  flush  took  its  place,  and  his  voice 
rang  like  a  bell. 

Then  he  added :  "I  don't  believe  that  office  is  a  presidential 
appointment.''* 

"No,  sir,  it  is  not.  It  is  a  small  office  or  branch,  and  comes 
under  the  Postmaster-General." 

He  then  said  to  his  private  secretary:  "Major,  make  a 
memorandum  for  Colonel  Barry  that  the  postmaster  at  Esopus, 
New  York,  is  to  be  retained." 

It  then  occurred  to  me  to  remark  that  my  brother,  who  was 
a  surveyor  in  Indiana  Territory  before  the  war  of  1812,  went 
with  the  Kentucky  troops  to  New  Orleans  and  served  there 
in  General  Adair's  rifle  brigade;  mentioning,  of  course,  his 
first  name. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  remember  him  well.  I  had  him  detailed  on 
special  duty  in  the  city  after  the  battle.  So  you  are  David 
Buell's  brother?  I  now  recollect  that  he  was  born  in  New 
York.  Well,  sir,  I  am  glad  to  meet  his  brother.  Where  is 
he  now?" 

*  Under  the  postal  laws  and  regulations  then  in  force  the  smaller  post- 
offices  were  treated  practically  as  branches  of  the  nearest  important  office. 
The  latter  would  be  a  presidential  appointment;  but  the  lesser  ones  would 
be  under  its  jurisdiction  and  their  postmasters  were  designated  by  the  Post- 
master-General, usually  upon  recommendation  of  the  incumbent  of  the 
larger  office,  whose  "patronage"  was  thereby  increased.  Moreover,  one  of 
the  innovations  of  the  Jackson  regime  was  that  of  making  the  Postmaster- 
General  a  Cabinet  officer.  Prior  to  that  time  the  General  Post-office  had 
been  treated  as  a  business  concern,  without  political  status. 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  215 

I  explained  that  he  was  employed  on  a  canal  survey  in  Ohio. 

He  then  said :  "I  know  almost  every  man  in  that  army,  sir, 
by  sight,  and  I  believe  if  they  were  all  here  I  could  call  them 
by  name.  Every  one  of  them,  sir,  is  my  personal  friend,  and 
I  am  his  !     Yes,  sir;  for  life,  sir  !" 

Seeing  he  was  getting  excited  again,  I  ventured  to  suggest 
that  it  was  remarkable  to  remember  so  many  men,  such  a  long 
time.  At  this  a  good-natured  expression  came  over  his 
features,  and  he  smiled  in  a  half-quizzical  way  as  he  said : 

"Oh,  no,  sir;  there  were  not  so  very  many  of  them.  The 
world  has  got  the  impression  that  they  must  have  been  numer- 
ous from  what  they  did.  True,  it  was  almost  fifteen  years 
ago.  But  when  a  man  once  gets  acquainted  with  such  fellows 
as  they  were  he  never  can   forget  them." 

While  this  was  going  on  a  number  of  callers  had  been 
announced  and  I  thought  it  proper  to  m^.ke  way  for  them. 
As  I  rose  to  go  he  held  out  his  hand,  and  as  I  took  it  he 
placed  the  other  hand  on  my  shoulder  and  asked:  "Now,  sir, 
can  I  be  of  any  service  to  you  personally?" 

"Not  in  any  official  way,  sir.  I  do  not  want  any  place.  If 
you  will  keep  my  crippled  old  comrade  of  the  war  in  his  little 
office,  I  ask  nothing  else." 

"I  will  keep  him  there,  sir,  never  fear." 

Then  he  walked  to  the  door  with  me  and  at  the  threshold 
took  me  by  the  hand  again,  saying:  "Remember  me  cordially 
to  your  brother  when  you  see  him  or  write  to  him.  Tell  him 
I  would  like  to  see  him  and  talk  over  the  old  times  if  he  should 
happen  to  come  this  way." 

As  I  went  out,  a  dozen  or  so  of  gentlemen  were  in  the 
waiting-room,  and  from  the  way  they  surveyed  me  it  was 
evident  they  thought  I  must  have  the  appointment  to  some 
important  foreign  mission  in  my  pocket.  As  I  thought  over 
the  interview  I  said  to  myself.  So  this  is  the  terrible  Jackson ! 
Plain,  straightforward,  no  pomp  or  reserve  about  him.  Im- 
pressive he  truly  was ;  but  in  a  kindly,  homely  sort  of  way 
that  inspired  anything  but  awe. 

This  was  the  first  time  I  had  a  chance  to  talk  with  him. 


2i6       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

Of  course  I  had  seen  him  before,  but  it  was  in  the  crush  of 
inauguration,  when  a  regular  mob  was  surging  around  him. 
Some  time  afterward  he,  without  my  asking  it,  appointed  me 
on  a  commission  to  acquire  more  land  for  barracks  at  Sackett's 
Harbor,  and  also  for  improving  the  arsenal  at  Watervliet. 
But  when  I  got  home  from  Washington  on  this  occasion  and 
tried  to  relate  my  experience  with  him  to  my  neighbors,  they 
thought — or  some  of  them — that  I  must  be  drawing  the  long 
bow,  because  they  could  hardly  believe  that  so  great  and 
famous  a  man  would  be  so  plain  and  every-day-like  in  his 
ways. 

Viewed  as  a  partisan  bogey,  the  so-called  ''clean 
sweep"  had  been  overworked  on  one  side  as  absurdly 
as  "treason,  stratagem  and  spoils"  was  on  the  other. 
The  sweep  was  by  no  means  clean.  It  was  not,  in  fact, 
half-way  so.  Exclusive  of  the  8,600-odd  post-offices  of 
all  classes,  the  total  number  6f  Federal  offices  in  1829 
did  not  exceed  two  thousand.  Of  these,  a  considerable 
number  were  clerks,  marshals  and  other  officials  of 
United  States  courts ;  and  only  the  marshals  came  within 
political  purview.  The  others  were  not  disturbed.  In 
one  case  the  clerk  of  a  district  court  resigned  because 
he  had  vehemently  supported  Adams  in  the  campaign 
and  supposed  he  w^ould  have  to  go.  The  Attorney-Gen- 
eral— Berrien — returned  the  clerk's  resignation  directly 
to  him  with  the  remark  that,  if  he  desired  to  vacate  his 
position,  he  must  first  put  his  resignation  in  the  hands 
of  the  judge  of  the  court.  The  clerk  held  his  place. 
Of  the  8,600  postmasters,  fewer  than  500  were  removed 
for  political  reasons;  though,  of  course,  these  embraced 
the  most  important  centres,  and  involved  a  considerable 
number  of  assistants  and  clerks.     Of  the  total  number 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  217 

of  post-offices  in  1829,  about  8,000  had  no  clerical  force, 
but  were  managed  by  the  postmasters  themselves.  Such 
offices  as  collectorships,  territorial  governors,  secretaries, 
etc..  Federal  district  attorneys,  United  States  marshals, 
commissioners  and  special  agents,  were  included  in  the 
political  list  and  changed.  This  was  also  true  of  the 
diplomatic  and  consular  representation  abroad. 

In  the  departments  at  Washington,  all  the  heads  of 
bureaus  were  removed  except  the  Indian  Commissioner, 
who  was  retained  because  General  Eaton,  Secretary  of 
War,  in  whose  department  the  Indian  office  was  then 
embraced,  did  not  wish  to  dispense  with  the  experience 
and  acquaintance  the  old  commissioner  had  with  the  In- 
dians personally.  Not  more  than  half  of  the  Indian 
agencies  were  changed.  Among  the  new  Indian  agents 
appointed  was  Robert  Polk — the  same  man  whom  Gen- 
eral Jackson  had  threatened  to  shoot  in  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans  for  being  too  brave. 

On  the  whole,  the  total  number  of  removals  was  not 
over  700,  including  postmasters.  Of  course,  this  was, 
for  that  time,  an  innovation.  But  it  was  by  no  means 
illogical.  The  government  was  then  forty  years  old. 
The  civil  service,  modelled  at  the  beginning  after  that 
of  England,  was  aristocratic,  and  had  already  begun  to 
be  hereditary.  It  belonged  to  the  epoch  of  apostolic 
succession  of  cabinet  officers  to  the  presidency,  the  oli- 
garchy of  the  congressional  caucus  and  restricted  suf- 
frage. As  such  it  was  an  anachronism.  Its  efficiency 
had  decreased  with  its  permanency,  and  the  arrogance 
of  clerks  had  grown  with  their  sense  of  security  in 
place  from  one  administration  to  another.  They  were 
ceasing  to  consider  themselves  servants  of  the  people  and 


21 8       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

coming  to  view  the  public  crib  as  part  of  their  private 
estate.  When  removed  they  cried  out  that  the  motives 
of  those  who  asked  for  their  places  were  selfish  and 
sordid.  They  did  not  seem  to  realize  that  the  desire  of 
those  who  are  in  to  stay  in  is  quite  as  selfish  and  sordid 
as  the  ambition  of  those  who  are  out  to  get  in. 

The  old  system  that  came  to  an  abrupt  end  in  1829 
involved  the  cardinal  theory  that  only  a  very  small,  select 
and  self-perpetuating  class  of  men  were  fit  to  transact 
the  business  of  the  government,  while  the  rest  of  the 
people — the  uncounted  majority — were  fit  only  to  pay 
taxes  for  their  support.  This  theory  was  un-Republican, 
un-Democratic,  oligarchical,  almost  feudal,  and  of  course 
it  had  to  go.  Its  further  perpetuity  would  give  the  lie 
to  the  progress  of  the  nation.  That  its  end  came  with 
the  advent  of  Jackson  was  a  mere  coincidence.  It  was 
bound  to  come  anyhow. 

Yet  to  the  defeated  Adamsite  party — which  for  con- 
venience we  may  henceforth  term  ''Whig" — the  so-called 
"clean  sweep"  afforded  political  stock  in  trade.  They 
therefore  called  it  the  "Spoils  System,!'  and  on  that 
phrase  they  rang  the  changes.  There  was  then  and  has 
been  ever  since  a  peculiarity  of  the  American  mind  which 
makes  men  who  would  face  the  mouth  of  a  hostile  cannon 
without  flinching,  run  like  rabbits  from  an  epithet.  And 
it  is  not  in  party  strife  alone  that  epithet  proves  a  deadly 
weapon.  The  average  citizen  is  proud  of  his  country's 
integrity  and  cherishes  her  honor.  He  is  willing  to  fight 
for  either  at  any  time.  But  if  some  hysterical  peace 
society  calls  him  "a  jingo,"  the  voice  of  patriotism  is 
silenced  in  his  soul.  Fortunately,  among  the  pests  of 
Jackson's   era,   the  millennial   peace-pifBer   had   not   yet 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  219 

appeared.    If  he  had,  the  situation  would  have  been  hope- 
less,  for  Jackson  was — or  would  have  been — the  ideal 

"jingo." 

In  all  general  policies  there  must  be  individual  errors. 
But  in  this  instance  the  marvel  really  was  that  they  were 
so  few.  Doubtless  the  most  palpable  mistake  General 
Jackson  made  was  the  recall  of  General  Harrison  from 
the  Colombian  mission.  The  hero  of  Tippecanoe  and 
the  Thames  had,  indeed,  done  his  best  for  Adams  and 
his  worst  against  Jackson  in  the  campaign.  But  he  had 
conducted  his  part  of  the  debate  with  dignity  and  always 
fully  acknowledged  the  debt  his  country  owed  to  the 
victor  of  New  Orleans.  Before  the  election— months 
before — Mr.  Adams  had  chosen  General  Harrison  to 
represent  the  United  States  at  the  capital  of  the  new 
South  American  republic. 

To  this  selection  Mr.  Adams  was  moved  by  a  senti- 
mental impulse — quite  unusual  with  him.  General  Har- 
rison in  18 1 2  had  borne  a  master  hand  to  vindicate  the 
Declaration  his  father  signed  in  1776.  Mr.  Adams 
thought  that  such  a  man  would  be  persona  grata  in  the 
highest  degree  to  a  young  republic  just  freed  from  the 
yoke.  But  General  Harrison  did  not  go  to  Bogota  at 
once.  Some  believed— and  the  President  among  them— 
that  he  delayed  his  departure  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
part  in  the  campaign;  even  to  manage  the  campaign  in 
Ohio  against  Jackson.  But  General  Harrison  always 
said  that  he  waited  until  November  because  he  did  not 
wish  to  make  a  tropical  voyage  in  midsummer.  Harrison 
sailed  from  New  York  for  Bogota  the  loth  of  Novem- 
ber, 1828— the  Monday  after  election— on  board  the 
sloop-of-war  Erie.     His  route  was  by  sea  to  the  mouth 


!220        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

of  the  Magdalena  River,  thence  partly  up  that  stream 
and  partly  by  land — primitive  water  carriage  and  bad 
roads — to  the  Colombian  capital.  The  journey  occupied 
just  four  months.  He  presented  his  credentials  to  Gen- 
eral Bolivar  at  Bogota — or  rather  at  Ogana — the  loth 
of  March.  On  that  same  day,  President  Jackson,  at 
Washington,  signed  the  letter  recalling  him! 

This  was  a  blunder;  not  merely  from  the  political,  but 
from  the  patriotic  point  of  view.  No  President  ever 
threw  aside  so  magnificent  an  occasion  for  magnanimity 
as  Jackson  did  when  he  recalled  Harrison.  It  is  quite 
probable  that  Harrison  would  have  offered  his  resigna- 
tion. But  that  would  have  been  his  fault.  In  fact, 
Jackson  almost  belied  his  own  character  in  the  transac- 
tion. Those  who  love  to  revere  the  old  hero's  memory 
console  themselves  with  the  well-founded  belief  that  it 
was  Van  Buren,  and  not  Jackson,  who  really  recalled 
Harrison.  There  were  hosts  of  Democrats  in  New  York 
who  voted  for  Jackson  in  1828  and  1832  and  against 
Van  Buren  and  for  Harrison  in  1836  and  1840.  They 
were  veterans  of  the  war  of  18 12,  and  resented  the  in- 
dignity done  to  their  old  comrade,  which  they  laid  at 
Van  Buren's  door. 

Jackson  ought  to  have  viewed  Harrison  with  refer- 
ence to  what  he  did  in  the  Canada  campaign  of  181 3, 
not  in  the  Ohio  campaign  of  1829.  William  Allen,  who 
was  by  no  means  friendly  to  General  Harrison — except 
personally — related  to  the  author  that  when  the  matter 
of  recalling  him  was  under  consideration,  Colonel  Barry 
■ — then  Postmaster-General — who  had  served  under  Har- 
rison in  all  his  campaigns,  suggested  to  General  Jackson : 
"If  you  had  seen  him  as  I  did  at  the  Thames,  you 
would,  I  think,  let  him  alone." 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  221 

*'You  may  be  right,  Barry,"  retorted  the  President; 
'T  reckon  you  are.  But,  thank  God,  I  didn't  see  him 
there!"* 

The  course  of  the  clean  sweep  did  not  run  smoothly. 
Though  there  was  a  normal  administration  majority  of 
three  or  four  in  the  Senate,  some  Democratic  Senators 
were  unwilling  to  assume  the  "thick-and-thin"  attitude. 
Few  of  these  revolted,  however,  except  in  extreme  cases. 
Most  of  those  who  made  a  practice  of  insurrection  at 
the  beginning  of  the  administration  soon  learned  better. 
The  few  who  did  not  or  could  not  learn  retired  to  pri- 
vate life  at  the  expiration  of  their  existing  terms,  except 
one,  w^ho  had  six  years  before  him.  Jackson  ''removed" 
this  one — from  the  Senate  to  the  Federal  bench. 

Of  the  nominations  rejected,  the  most  noteworthy  was 
that  of  the  New  Hampshire  Boanerges,  our  old  friend, 
Isaac  Hill.  His  name  w^as  sent  to  the  Senate  for  Second 
Comptroller  of  the  Treasury.  Like  the  nominations  of 
other  prominent  journalists  since  his  time,  that  of  Mr. 
Hill  encountered  what  is  called  ''senatorial  courtesy," 
a  grim,  but  invisible,  intangible  and  impalpable  fetich, 
which  hovers  and  hisses  above  the  bald  heads  of  solemn 
Solons,  but  which,  described  in  plain  English,  means  that 
Senators  make  use  of  executive  session  to  wreak  their 
private  revenges.  The  New  Hampshire  Patriot  was 
charged  with  "abusing  Mrs.  Adams."  Hill's  friends  in 
the  Senate  demonstrated  that  the  "abuse"  consisted  of 

*  Some  of  General  Jackson's  superserviceable  friends  set  up  the  prepos- 
terous theory  that  Harrison  was  recalled  at  the  request  of  General  Bolivar 
because  he  (Harrison)  advised  him  to  reject  the  offer  of  dictatorial  powers 
made  by  the  Colombian  Congress  at  the  moment  when  Harrison  arrived  at 
Bogota.  This  silly  tale  refutes  itself.  The  letter  of  recall  had  left  Wash- 
ington two  weeks  before  General  Harrison  at  Bogota  wrote  his  letter  to 
Bolivar  on  the  subject  of  the  dictatorship.  And  the  average  time  of  com- 
munication between  the  two  capitals  then  was  four  months. 


222       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

reprinting  extracts  from  a  Journal  of  Foreign  Travel; 
By  an  American  Lady.  The  writer  of  the  Journal  ac- 
cused Mrs.  Adams  of  aping  the  manners  of  nobility  and 
of  supercilious  conduct  toward  her  own  countrywomen 
when  residing  with  her  husband  abroad  in  official 
position. 

The  accusation  probably  had  no  better  basis  than  an 
ambitious  woman's  pique.  We  have  seen  American 
ladies  abroad,  whose  husbands  had  recently  struck  oil 
or  something  of  that  sort,  and  who  considered  themselves 
denied  the  inalienable  rights  guaranteed  by  the  Consti- 
tution whenever  the  wives  or  daughters  of  our  ministers 
or  ambassadors  could  not  find  time  or  inclination  to  be 
their  chaperons  or  cicerones  in  foreign  capitals.  But 
in  any  event,  Hill  had  no  right,  even  in  that  roundabout 
way,  to  bring  Mrs.  Adams's  na^ne  into  the  filthy  sewage 
of  such  a  campaign  as  that  was.  His  offence  differed 
only  in  quality  from  that  of  the  Adamsite  editors,  who 
traduced  Mrs.  Jackson.  The  crime,  in  either  case,  was 
that  of  bringing  the  woman's  name  into  newspaper  col- 
umns for  a  partisan  purpose. 

Hill  was  rejected.  Benton  voted  for  him,  and  so  did 
Edward  Livingston.  But  both  explained  their  votes  by 
saying  that  perhaps  the  chivalry  of  his  environment  as 
to  the  sacredness  of  a  woman's  name  may  not  have  been 
so  delicate  as  it  was  in  other  parts  of  the  country !  How- 
ever, the  Senate  rejected  his  nomination  by  a  vote  of 
22  to  21,  five  Senators  declining  to  either  vote  or  pair 
on  the  question. 

Jackson  resented  this  more  bitterly  than  any  other 
action  of  the  Senate.  He  at  once  set  about  a  scheme 
to    get    even.      He   arranged   that    Senator    Woodbury 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  223 

should  resign  and  take  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Navy, 
in  order  that  the  irrepressible  Mr.  Hill  might  enjoy  the 
triumph  of  sitting  in  that  Senate  which  had  voted  him 
unfit  to  be  Second  Comptroller.  In  this  as  in  most  other 
political  operations  to  which  he  gave  his  personal  atten- 
tion, General  Jackson  succeeded  exactly  according  to 
plan.  Mr.  Hill  was  sworn  in  as  a  Senator  about  a  year 
after  the  Senate  rejected  him  as  Second  Comptroller. 

It  might  be  interesting  to  analyze — if  we  could — the 
mental  processes  through  which  Jackson  differentiated 
the  bringing  of  Mrs.  Adams's  name  by  Hill  and  that  of 
Mrs.  Jackson  by  the  Adamsite  editors-at-large  into  the 
campaign  literature  of  1828.  True,  Hill  did  not  asperse 
the  character  of  Mrs.  Adams.  He  merely  quoted  the 
American  Lady,  who  accused  her  of  being  what  the 
New  England  people  used  to  term  "stuck-up  in  her 
manners."  On  the  other  hand,  the  Adamsite  organs 
accused  Mrs.  Jackson  of  marrying  her  second  husband 
before  being  legally  divorced  from  the  first  one;  and  on 
that  basis  they  called  her  an  adulteress.  The  Adamsite 
organs,  in  these  assertions,  did  no  more  than  echo  the 
declaration  of  Charles  Dickinson,  for  which  Jackson 
killed  him.  Of  course,  if  Hill  had  aspersed  the  name 
of  Mrs.  Adams  as  her  husband's  editorial  supporters,  and 
even  Henry  Clay  himself,  vilified  the  name  of  Mrs.  Jack- 
son, the  General  would  never  have  tolerated  his  presence. 
But  Jackson,  by  his  extravagant  countenance  and  support 
of  Hill,  seems  to  have  proclaimed  indirectly  that,  accord- 
ing to  his  code,  the  name  of  a  presidential  candidate's 
wife  might  be  dragged  through  the  columns  of  an  op- 
posing party  organ,  for  the  purpose  of  inflaming  the 
prejudices  of   voters,   provided   no   aspersion   was   cast 


224       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

upon  her  chastity.  If  so,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
Hne  of  distinction  was  most  nicely  drawn.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  might  serve  as  one  among  many  incidents  tend- 
ing to  show  that  the  character  of  General  Jackson  was 
a  strange  assemblage  of  antitheses. 

Jackson  made  several  other  blunders  of  a  personal 
nature  in  the  removals  and  appointments  of  1829.  Most 
conspicuous  among  them  was  the  nomination  of  Henry 
Lee  to  a  consulate  in  France.  The  Senate  rejected  the 
nomination  on  the  ground  of  unfitness  of  Lee's  personal 
character,  serious  charges  against  him  having  been  sus- 
tained. Major  Lewis,  in  a  letter  written  soon  after  the 
rejection  of  Lee's  nomination,  says  that  his  own  rela- 
tives were  the  cause  of  it;  that  they  were  unwilling 
that  he  should  be  sent  abroad  as  a  representative  of  that 
illustrious  family.  Among  those  who  voted  against  Lee 
were  such  friends  of  Jackson  as  Senators  White  and 
Grundy,  of  Tennessee;  Benton,  Edward  Livingston, 
Hayne  and  Woodbury — the  most  ardent  and  powerful 
supporters  he  had  in  all  the  Senate.  Jackson  did  not 
find  fault  with  them  for  voting  against  Lee.  He  was 
less  chivalrous  with  men  than  with  women  whom  scan- 
dal pursued,  as  we  shall  now  see. 

Great  as  may  have  been  the  issue  of  the  ''clean  sweep," 
it  soon  gave  place  to  an  agitation  that  "shook  society" 
to  its  foundations.  We  have  already  seen  that  most  of 
General  Jackson's  troubles — or  at  least  his  worst  ones — 
had  a  woman  in  the  case.  The  one  now  about  to  be 
considered  unquestionably  made  the  most  noise  and  gave 
him  the  greatest  worry  of  all — excepting,  of  course,  the 
one  which,  unjust  and  cruel  as  the  imputation  was,  had 
hung  over  his  own  hearth. 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION 


225 


In  January,  1829,  about  two  months  before  General 
Jackson  appointed  him  Secretary  of  War,  Senator  Eaton, 
of  Tennessee,  married  Mrs.  Margaret  O'Neal  Timber- 
lake,  of  Washington.  Mrs.  Timberlake  was  the  widow 
of  a  purser  in  the  navy  who  died  by  his  own  hand  while 
on  duty  with  the  Mediterranean  squadron.  Her  father, 
William  O'Neal,  had  for  a  long  time  kept  a  private 
hotel  or  large  boarding-house,  much  patronized  by  Sen- 
ators and  members  of  Congress  from  the  South  and 
West.  As  a  young  girl,  Miss  O'Neal  had  been  well 
educated,  and  her  association  with  men  and  women  of 
culture  and  refinement  who  boarded  at  her  father's  house 
had  been  a  social  training,  in  the  mental  sense,  of  which 
she  took  full  advantage.  She  was  petite,  pretty,  viva- 
cious and  well-read.  She  knew  as  much  about  political 
affairs  as  most  men,  and  could  discuss  questions  of  state 
with  the  ablest  of  them. 

In  fact,  when  she  married  Mr.  Timberlake,  most  of 
those  who  admired  her  viewed  it  as  an  inferior  match, 
and  thought  she  ought  to  have  cherished  loftier  aspira- 
tions. This  opinion  was  more  generally  held  by  the 
men  than  by  the  women  who  were  acquainted  with  Miss 
O'Neal.  Anyone  who  has  passed  twenty  years  in  Wash- 
ington as  a  newspaper  man,  or  in  any  other  capacity 
involving  the  entree  to  official  society,  is  likely  to  be 
aware  of  the  fact  that  the  wife  of  an  American  states- 
man— unless  a  second  wife — is  usually  somewhat  passee, 
because  men  do  not  customarily  arrive  at  the  national 
period  of  political  success  until  they  reach  middle  age,  and 
a  middle-aged  woman  is  always  older  than  a  man  of 
equal  years. 

The  result  was  that  by  the  time  Miss  O'Neal  became 
Vol.  II.— 15 


226        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

Mrs.  Timberlake,  she  had  been  the  cause  of  no  httle 
jealousy  on  the  part  of  a  number  of  dames  whose  hus- 
bands had  not  been  able  to  conceal  their  admiration  for 
the  sprightly  and  handsome  girl.  The  dames,  therefore, 
welcomed  Mr.  Timberlake,  and  hoped  that  married  life 
might  tone  down  the  captivating  manners  and  the — they 
thought — dangerous  graces  of  the  boarding-house  man's 
daughter.  But  when  Mrs.  Timberlake,  after  a  matri- 
monial  experience  of  four  or  five  years,  became  a  bloom- 
ing young  widow,  the  perturbations  of  society  were 
renewed. 

These  conditions  became  acute  when  Mrs.  Timberlake 
became  the  wife  of  Senator  Eaton.  And  when  it  trans- 
pired that  Senator  Eaton  was  to  be  a  member  of  the 
Cabinet,  the  situation  ceased  to  be  endurable.  From 
the  view-point  of  those  whor  were  leaders  of  society, 
the  sole  alternative  was  to  crush  Mrs.  Eaton  at  once. 
General  Jackson  had  not  been  President  quite  two  weeks 
when  the  storm  burst  upon  him. 

On  March  22d  he  received  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr. 
E.  S.  Ely,  of  Philadelphia,  informing  him  that  certain 
allegations  of  the  most  serious  character  against  the 
character  of  Mrs.  Eaton  had  been  imparted  to  him  by 
a  clergyman  in  Washington,  who  desired  him  to  com- 
municate them  to  the  President.  Long  as  the  list  of 
allegations  was,  it  contained  but  two  which,  if  sustained, 
could  be  admitted  as  evidence  in  court.  All  the  rest  was 
gossip,  insinuation  and  vague  whispers  of  what  Mrs.  A. 
had  told  Mrs.  B.  in  strict  confidence — to  be  divulged  only 
to  Mrs.  CD.,  E.  and  F. 

The  two  substantive  allegations  were : 

First — That  the  Washington  clergyman  had  told  Dr. 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  227 

Ely  that  a  certain  physician,  then  deceased,  had  told  him 
that  Mrs.  Timberlake  had  undergone  a  premature  ac- 
couchement when  her  husband  had  been  absent  a  year 
or  more. 

Second — That,  before  their  marriage,  Senator  Eaton 
and  Mrs.  Timberlake  had  visited  New  York  and  other 
cities,  registering  at  hotels  as  husband  and  wife. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Ely  also  declared  that  the  Washington 
clergyman  had  told  him  that  Mrs.  Jackson  herself,  when 
boarding  with  the  General  at  Mr.  O'Neal's  house  in 
1824-25,  had  told  him  (the  Washington  clergyman) 
that  she  entertained  the  worst  suspicions  of  Mrs.  Tim- 
berlake. In  conclusion.  Dr.  Ely  assured  the  President 
that  his  object  in  taking  up  the  matter  was  to  ''save  his 
administration  from  scandal." 

The  letter  of  Dr.  Ely  received  General  Jackson's  im- 
mediate attention.  Under  date  of  March  23,  1829,  he 
wrote  at  great  length  to  Dr.  Ely,  analyzing  the  state- 
ments offered  and  requesting  to  know  the  identity  of 
the  ''Washington  clergyman"  in  particular.  One  clause 
from  the  General's  letter  serves  to  exhibit  the  spirit  of 
the  whole : 

"Would  you  desire  me,  my  worthy  friend,  to  add  the 
weight  and  influence  of  my  name,  whatever  it  may  be, 
to  assist  in  crushing  Mrs.  Eaton,  who,  I  do  believe  and 
have  a  right  to  believe,  is  a  much  injured  woman,  and 
more  virtuous  than  some  of  her  enemies?" 

In  this  letter  General  Jackson  pointed  out  clearly  and 
with  characteristic  vigor  the  inconsistencies  and  self- 
contradictions  that  were  apparent  in  the  "evidence" 
offered  against  Mrs.  Eaton.  And  he  flatly  denounced, 
of  his  own  knowledge,  as  false  and  malicious,  the  dec- 


228        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

laratlon  that  Mrs.  Jackson  had  ever  suspected  ^Irs. 
Eaton. 

To  this  letter  Dr.  Ely  replied  with  reiteration  of  the 
hearsays  on  which  his  first  epistle  was  based,  but  de- 
clined to  divulge  either  the  name  of  the  "Washington 
clergyman"  or  of  any  other  informant  in  the  endless  chain 
of  what  ''A  told  B  and  B  told  C  that  A  had  heard  a 
man  say,"  etc.,  which  constituted  what  he  called  his 
''evidence." 

The  effect  of  such  a  restatement  as  this  upon  such  a 
temperament  as  Jackson's  need  not  be  described.  He 
at  once  concluded  that  the  reverend  doctor  had  been 
drawn  in  to  serve  as  the  respectable  tool  of  a  con- 
spiracy fomented  by  Mr.  Clay,  and  none  the  less  foul 
because  most  of  the  co-conspirators  happened  to  be 
women  of  high  social  rank,  some  of  whom  he  had  al- 
ready described  in  his  first  letter  to  Ely  as  less  virtuous 
than  Mrs.  Eaton.  Jackson  was  unwilling  to  suspect  any 
preacher  of  malice.  While  Mrs.  Jackson  had  never  suc- 
ceeded in  inducing  him  to  join  the  church,  she  had  thor- 
oughly imbued  his  mind  with  that  essential  preliminary 
to  conversion  or  ''convincement" — a  childlike  faith  in 
the  purity  of  preachers.  He  therefore  implicitly  believed 
in  the  good  intentions  of  Dr.  Ely,  but  considered  him 
as  a  just  man  wofully  deceived.  His  second  letter  to 
the  reverend  doctor,  dated  April  lo,  1829,  was  a  cate- 
gorical refutation  of  the  allegations  in  the  doctor's  two 
letters,  so  far  as  any  of  them  was  tangible;  and  finally 
he  emphasized  his  wish  to  know  the  identity  of  the 
mysterious  ''Washington  clergyman"  from  a  request  to 
a  demand. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  employed  competent  men  to 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  229 

investigate  the  accusation  concerning  the  hotel-registry 
in  New  York,  the  Gadsby's  Hotel  story  and  everything 
else  in  the  case  affording  the  least  shadow  of  clue.  The 
result  was  always  the  same.  Every  trail  of  "evidence" 
ended  in  nothing — not  even  a  consistent  rumor.  No 
authority  for  anything  could  be  found  anywhere.  The 
only  progress  made  was  that  Dr.  Ely,  wdien  fairly  cor- 
nered, wrote  a  letter  to  the  "Washington  clergyman" — 
Rev.  Dr.  J.  N.  Campbell ;  no  less  than  the  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  wdiich  General  Jackson  himself  at- 
tended— and  informed  him  that  the  time  had  come  when 
he  (Campbell)  must  take  the  responsibility. 

Accordingly,  the  evening  of  September  i,  1829,  an 
interview  occurred  between  the  President  and  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Campbell.  This  interview  was  witnessed  by  Colonel 
Towson  and  Major  Donelson.  The  President,  under 
dates  of  September  3d  and  loth,  wrote  out  an  account 
of  it,  to  the  accuracy  of  which  he  and  the  two  witnesses 
present  were  willing  to  make  oath.  Briefly,  the  result 
of  this  interview  was  to  develop  the  fact  that  Dr.  Camp- 
bell had  given  two  dates,  nearly  five  years  apart,  for  the 
alleged  premature  accouchement ;  that  his  first  date  was 
1 821;  and  that  then,  finding  out  that  Mr.  Timberlake 
did  not  leave  the  United  States  till  the  end  of  1824,  he 
changed  the  date  to  1826.  This  barefaced  confession 
of  want  of  real  evidence  completed  General  Jackson's 
disgust. 

But  he  did  not  stop  even  there.  He  was  determined 
that  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  should  know  the  facts 
as  he  had  ascertained  them.  So  he  called  a  special 
cabinet  council,  at  which  the  Rev.  Drs.  Ely  and  Camp- 
bell were  present.     This  was  the  evening  of  September 


230        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

10,  1829.  At  this  council  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ely  admitted 
that  the  story  of  the  hotel-registry  in  New  York  had 
proved  to  be  wholly  false.  This  left  the  Rev.  Dr.  Camp- 
bell to  stand  alone  as  "Chaplain  to  the  Conspiracy."  * 
Upon  close  examination  by  General  Jackson,  Dr.  Camp- 
bell broke  down  more  completely  than  Dr.  Ely  had  done. 
The  case  was  then  considered  closed,  and  the  President 
evidently  believed  that  Mrs.  Eaton's  position  as  a  lady 
of  the  Cabinet  would  be  conceded. 

It  is  of  course  impossible  to  follow  the  case  in  all  its 
bearings  or  to  reproduce  the  mass  of  extant  letters,  state- 
ments, reports  of  private  investigations,  etc.,  etc.,  that 
the  affair  evoked.  They  could  not  be  presented  in  less 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  pages  of  this  volume.  The 
total  collapse  of  the  prosecution  for  want  of  even  a 
shadow  of  evidence  was  viewed  with  perfect  indifference 
by  the  women  of  the  Branch,  Berrien,  Calhoun  and 
Ingham  families.  If  anything,  their  proscription  of  Mrs. 
Eaton  gained  strength  as  the  prosecution  weakened,  until, 
when  the  last  shred  of  alleged  evidence  had  vanished, 
they  solemnly  pronounced  her  guiltier  than  ever! 

The  sequel  proved  that  General  Jackson's  knowledge 
of  the  female  character  was  extremely  shallow.  His 
whole  conception  of  it  was  based  upon  his  experience 
with  Mrs.  Jackson  or  his  own  mother — both  simple,  hon- 
est pioneer  women,  as  ignorant  of  the  arts  and  the 
artifices  of  "high  society"  as  they  were  of  necromancy 
or  the  evil  eye.  He  was  therefore  utterly  incapable  of 
perceiving  —  much  less  dealing  with  —  the  influences 
which  the  ambitions  and  the  devices  of  women  in  high 
official  society  never  fail  to  exert  upon  the  current  of 
political  and  diplomatic  affairs. 

*  Isaac  Hill's  definition  of  Campbell's  attitude. 


THE    NEW    ADMINISTRATION  231 

This  incapacity  led  him  into  the  grotesquely  absurd 
belief  or  expectation  that  the  women  who  had  employed 
the  two  preachers  as  instruments  in  their  crusade  against 
Mrs.  Eaton,  would  accept  the  result  in  good  faith  and 
that  social  harmony  would  thereby  be  restored.  He  was 
soon  undeceived.  The  women  not  only  redoubled  their 
hate  toward  Mrs.  Eaton,  but  they  also  hated  General 
Jackson  for  his  defence  of  her — or  rather,  for  his 
exposure  of  the  hollowness  of  the  plot  against  her. 

His  instincts  now,  as  ever  before,  impelled  him,  w^hen- 
ever  a  woman  appeared  as  an  enemy,  to  find  some  man 
whom  he  could  hold  responsible  for  her  conduct.  In 
earlier  days  he  always  found  summary  means  of  settling 
such  difficulties.  But  that  recourse  was  denied  to  him 
now.  He  could  no  longer  exact  the  penalties  of  phys- 
ical responsibility.  But  he  held  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Sec- 
retaries Ingham  and  Branch  and  Attorney-General  Ber- 
rien morally  responsible  for  the  attitude  of  their  wives. 
Of  the  Cabinet,  Van  Buren  and  Barry  alone  stood  by 
him.  Van  Buren  was  a  widower  without  daughters. 
The  ladies  of  Barry's  household  were  Kentuckians,  as 
chivalrous  as  men — and  as  fearless. 

At  first  the  President  resorted  to  overtures.  He  wrote 
a  note  to  Calhoun  on  the  subject.  The  Vice-President 
replied  that  it  was  a  quarrel  among  women,  whose  laws, 
like  those  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  admitted  of  neither 
repeal  nor  appeal.  But  this  diplomatic  parry  did  not 
save  Mr.  Calhoun  from  General  Jackson's  resentment. 
Finally,  the  services  of  Colonel  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of 
Kentucky,  as  mediator  were  invoked.  He  found  Messrs. 
Branch,  Berrien  and  Ingham  wholly  helpless  in  the 
hands  of  the  women  of  their  families,  and  the  general 
result  of  his  mediation  was  to  make  a  bad  matter  worse. 


232        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Meantime » the  President  took  every  opportunity  to 
exalt  Mrs.  Eaton  socially.  The  wife  of  Mrs.  Jackson's 
nephew.  Mrs.  Emily  Donelson,  had  been  installed  as 
mistress  of  the  White  House.  She  yielded  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Calhoun.  Branch,  Berrien  and  Ingham 
women.  She  declined  to  receive  Mrs.  Eaton.  The 
President  sent  her  forthwith  home  to  Tennessee.  Her 
husband,  who  was  the  President's  private  secretary,  soon 
followed  her. 

Mrs.  Eaton  now  became  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
mistress  of  the  White  House.  She  did  not  live  there, 
but,  with  her  husband — who,  as  we  have  noted  in  a 
previous  chapter,  was  adept  in  the  art  of  entertaining — 
superintended  the  preparation  of  all  functions  and  fre- 
quently appeared  as  presiding  lady  on  state  occasions. 
Meantime  the  rebellious  cabinet  ladies  remained  unsub- 
dued. General  Jackson  had  at  last  found  a  foe  he  could 
not  conquer.  The  incident  influenced  the  whole  history 
of  his  two  administrations.  Its  effects  constantly  cropped 
out  from  1826  to  1837.  No  other  woman  has  ever 
exerted  so  great  an  influence  upon  the  political  history 
of  the  United  States  as  Margaret  Eaton. 


CHAPTER   IX 

UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION 

The  Democratic  or  the  Jackson  preponderance  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  that  organized  December  7, 
1829,  was  as  150  to  41.  The  Senate,  as  has  already 
been  noted,  was  more  evenly  balanced,  but  the  opposi- 
tion on  general  party  questions  could  rely  on  about  25 
out  of  the  48  senators,  or  a  clear  majority  of  two.  On 
more  purely  personal  questions  there  was,  as  yet.  no 
thick-and-thin  majority  in  that  body.  There  had  been 
no  development  of  public  policy.  Nothing  had  been 
done  except  to  remove  office-holders  and  vindicate  Mrs. 
Eaton.  The  political  or  partisan  aspect  of  the  situation 
may  be  described  by  saying  that  Mr.  Clay  had  begun 
the  campaign  of  1832  as  soon  as  the  votes  were  counted 
in  1828. 

The  first  annual  message  of  the  new  President  was 
not  an  imposing  document.  It  touched  tenderly  upon 
nearly  every  topic  that  it  touched  at  all.  But  it  con- 
tained one  clause,  the  significance  of  which  admitted  of 
no  doubtful  interpretation.  The  language  of  the  clause 
was  circumspect  and  its  tone  conservative,  but  its  actual 
portent  was  unmistakable  to  those  who  knew  the  opin- 
ions and  purposes  of  the  President.  Referring  to  the 
fact  that  the  charter  of  the  United  States  Bank  would 
expire  in  1836,  it  suggested: 

Both  the  constitutionality  and  expediency  of  the  law  cre- 
ating this  Bank  are  well  questioned  by  a  large  portion  of  our 

233 


Q34       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

fellow-citizens ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  by  all  that  it  has 
failed  in  the  great  end  of  establishing  a  uniform  and  sound 
currency. 

Under  these  circumstances,  if  such  an  institution  is  deemed 
essential  to  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  government,  I  submit 
to  the  wisdom  of  the  legislature  whether  a  national  one,  founded 
upon  the  credit  of  the  government  and  its  revenues,  might  not 
be  devised  which  would  avoid  all  constitutional  difficulties, 
and  at  the  same  time  secure  all  the  advantages  to  the  govern- 
ment and  the  country  that  were  expected  to  result  from  the 
present  Bank. 

The  President's  declaration  that  the  Bank  had  "failed 
to  establish  a  uniform  and  sound  currency"  was  certainly 
open  to  question.  During  the  Bank's  existence  the  coun- 
try had,  indeed,  been  from  time  to  time  flooded  with  the 
notes  of  State  banks,  which  varied  widely  in  value  out- 
side the  States  in  which  they  'were  issued.  But  neither 
the  Federal  government  nor  the  Bank  had  any  power 
to  remedy  this  evil.  If  the  notes  of  State  banks  were 
not  *'a  uniform  and  stable  currency" — as  they  most  as- 
suredly were  not,  then  or  at  any  other  period  of  our 
history — the  fault  was  not  attributable  to  either  the  Fed- 
eral government,  which  had  not  then  claimed  the  power 
to  monopolize  the  issue  of  paper  money,  or  to  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  which  had  no  more  to  do  with 
the  notes  of  State  banks  than  with  the  private  due-bills 
of  individuals  one  to  another.  Therefore,  the  Bank 
should  not  have  been  held  responsible  for  a  currency 
over  which  it  had  no  control. 

Later  experience  has  taught  the  American  people  a 
great  truth  that  was  not  known — or  that  would  have  been 
fiercely  controverted — in  1830:  The  great  truth  that  the 
power  to  issue  or  authorize  paper  money  must  be  lodged 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  235 

in  the  same  depository  with  the  power  to  coin  metallic 
money.  Now  (1904),  after  more  than  forty  years'  ex- 
perience of  this  wise  and  salutary  application  of  princi- 
ple, the  State  bank  theory,  so  far  as  concerns  issue  of 
currency,  is  as  dead  as  Nullification  or  Secession.  But 
in  1830  the  State  bank  insanity  was  rampant,  and  from 
it  sprang  much  of  the  popular  hostility  to  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States.  Whether  the  latter  was  properly 
organized  or  equitably  managed  is  a  question  the  con- 
sideration of  which  belongs  elsewhere. 

General  Jackson's  own  public  record  on  the  subject 
of  the  Bank  was  clear.  In  1797  he  had  opposed  in 
Congress  the  first  bank  as  proposed  and  organized  by 
Alexander  Hamilton.  In  18 16  his  military  position  kept 
him  out  of  active  politics ;  but  so  far  as  he  had  expressed 
his  views  then,  they  were  known  to  be  against  its 
re-charter. 

The  fact  that  while  governor  of  Florida  he  had  rec- 
ommended the  establishment  of  a  branch  bank  at  Pen- 
sacola  and  subsequently  had  recommended  ofiicers  for 
one  at  Nashville,  did  not  affect  his  views  upon  the  sub- 
ject at  large.  His  motive  for  attacking  the  Bank  in 
his  first  annual  message  has  been  explained  in  many 
ways,  some  of  which  are  at  variance  one  with  an- 
other. The  most  probable  one  is  the  simplest.  He 
undoubtedly  held  in  1829  to  the  opinions  that  dictated 
his  opposition  in  1797,  and  those  opinions  were  strength- 
ened by  what  he  had  seen — or  what  he  believed — of 
the  dangerous  political  power  the  institution  wielded. 
His  point  that  it  *'had  failed  to  give  the  country  a  uni- 
form and  sound  currency"  was — as  we  have  already  inti- 
mated— hardly  well  taken,  because  it  had  done  that  to 


236       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

a  degree  most  remarkable,  considering  the  vast  extent 
of  the  country  and  the  imperfect  system  of  communica- 
tions and  exchanges.  At  the  time  he  wrote  the  phrase 
quoted  the  notes  of  the  United  States  Bank  were  a  cur- 
rency as  uniform  and  sound  as  any  paper  money  the 
world  has  ever  seen — not  excepting  those  of  the  Bank 
of  England  or  our  own  Treasury  notes  of  to-day.  The 
statement  was,  therefore,  reckless.  If  the  stability  of 
its  notes  had  varied  at  any  time,  it  was  because  of  con- 
ditions such  as  war  or  threatening  complications,  which 
never  fail  to  affect  any  paper  currency;  but,  whenever 
there  was  no  disturbing  element  beyond  the  control  of 
any  fiscal  institution,  its  notes  had  always  been  as  good 
on  the  upper  Missouri  as  on  the  Delaware,  and  as  good 
as  gold  anywhere. 

The  alternative  that  he  proposed  for  it,  "a.  national 
bank,"  was  vague.  It  might  mean  a  system  of  Treasury 
notes,  resting  on  the  faith  of  the  government,  like  the 
present  greenbacks  or  coin  certificates  based  on  a  Treas- 
ury reserve,  or  it  might  mean  a  scheme  like  the  present 
national  banking  system,  having  a  note  circulation  se- 
cured by  the  obligations  of  the  government — or  both 
combined.  He  could  hardly,  however,  have  contem- 
plated a  national  banking  system  based  upon  government 
debt,  because  he  was  in  favor  of  extinguishing  the  latter 
as  soon  as  the  excess  of  revenues  over  expenditures 
would  permit. 

It  is  therefore  fair  to  conclude  that  he  had  in  mind 
notes  of  the  Treasury  itself  or  a  ''greenback"  currency, 
such  as  now  exists;  and  it  is  perfectly  clear  that  he  was 
opposed  to  any  system  that  lodged  the  fiscal  affairs  of 
the  government  in  the  hands  of  a  chartered  company, 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  237 

having  a  limited  number  of  stockholders  and,  in  general 
terms,  a  legalized  monopoly.  If  he  held  the  Treasury 
note  theory  his  views  were  prophetic.  We  remember 
that  during  what  has  passed  into  history  as  the  ''green- 
back craze,"  and  which  lasted  with  more  or  less  vigor 
from  1868  to  1878,  the  advocates  of  that  system,  from 
Thaddeus  Stevens  and  William  Allen  down,  freely  quoted 
from  this  message  and  other  expressions  to  claim  that 
Andrew  Jackson  was  the  originator  of  the  greenback 
idea. 

Speculation  aside,  however,  it  is  clear  that  Jackson 
viewed  the  Bank  as  a  Federalist  institution  in  origin 
and  an  anti-Democratic  machine  in  perpetuation.  True, 
it  had  not  been  made  an  issue  in  either  of  the  two  cam- 
paigns in  which  he  had  been  a  candidate.  It  had  not 
been  mentioned  in  the  canvass  of  1824  or  in  that  of 
1828.  In  the  former  there  were  no  issues  except  the 
personalities  of  candidates,  and  those  were  so  numerous 
and  the  shades  of  political  opinion  they  represented  so 
indistinct  that  there  seemed  to  be  no  demand  for  issues 
of  policy  or  of  principle.  In  1828  the  contest  was  again 
purely  personal,  but  between  two  candidates  only;  and 
the  element  of  personal  abuse  assumed  at  the  outset  such 
virulence  that  the  introduction  of  any  rational  subject 
for  sane  discussion  must  have  marred  the  consistency 
of  its  vituperation. 

But  that  it  had  been  an  issue  from  General  Jackson's 
viewpoint  in  both  campaigns  was  sufficiently  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  he  embraced  the  opportunity  presented 
by  his  first  legislative  message  to  attack  it.  The  result 
quickly  proved  that  his  party  had  not  kept  pace  with 
him  on  that  question.     Overwhelming  as  the  Democratic 


238        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

majority  in  the  House  was,  that  body  decHned  to  act 
favorably  upon  the  Bank  clause  in  his  message.  The 
Ways  and  Means  Committee  made  a  report  favorable 
to  the  United  States  Bank,  and  by  clear  implication  con- 
demned the  national  bank  suggested  in  the  message. 
Subsequently  a  set  of  resolutions  indorsing  the  fiscal 
policy  proposed  by  the  President  and  declaring  against 
the  re-charter  of  the  existing  Bank  was  laid  on  the  table 
by  a  vote  of  90  to  65,  or,  on  the  final  call,  89  to  66, 
one  Democrat  changing  his  vote  at  the  last  moment. 
However,  this  was  hardly  a  test  of  the  President's 
strength  in  the  House  on  this  question,  because  several 
Democrats  explained  their  votes  against  the  Potter  reso- 
lutions by  saying  that  they  were  premature ;  that  the  real 
question  was  three  years  in  the  future,  and  that  for 
Congress  to  utter  a  mere  threat  now  could  have  no  effect 
except  to  disturb  the  business  of  the  country — points 
which  were  quite  widely  viewed  as  well  taken. 

The  session,  though  longer  than  usual,  was  barren 
of  important  legislation.  The  House  originated  none 
of  historical  import.  The  time  of  the  Senate  was  taken 
up  partly  by  consideration  of  the  numerous  executive 
nominations  and  partly  by  the  great  debate  which  cul- 
minated in  the  immortal  tournament  between  Hayne  and 
Webster,  in  which  was  sounded  the  first  plain  warning 
of  the  "irrepressible  conflict"  to  come.  Other  incidents 
of  this  session  were  the  clear  announcement  of  the  Pres- 
ident's opposition  to  Federal  appropriations  for  internal 
improvements,  at  least  until  a  clear  and  unmistakable 
authority  to  grant  them  should  be  conferred  on  Congress 
by  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution ;  also  the  adoption 
of  the  policy  of  removing  the  Indians  westward,  which 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  239 

soon  after  took  practical  form  in  the  creation  of  the 
Indian  Territory.  The  session  lasted  from  December 
7th  till  June  I  St.  Seldom  has  there  been  a  long  session 
of  Congress  less  prolific  of  legislation  and  more  fruitful 
of  epoch-making  debate  than  this  one.  In  those  dis- 
cussions was,  for  the  first  time,  clearly  developed  and 
frankly  defined  the  ultra  view  of  State-rights,  and  then 
w^as  openly  asserted  for  the  first  time  in  the  halls  of 
Congress  the  doctrine  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  State 
was  original  and  paramount,  while  that  of  the  Federal 
Union  was  merely  delegated  and  subsidiary. 

On  this  issue — which,  by  the  w^ay,  was  thrust  to  the 
front  more  by  accident  than  design — General  Jackson 
announced  his  own  attitude  with  neither  delay  nor  un- 
certain sound.  Having  no  voice  in  debate,  he  availed 
himself  of  a  resource  he  had  often  used  before — a  dinner. 
The  13th  of  April  was  Jefferson's  birthday.  The  apos- 
tle of  Democracy  had  been  dead  four  years.  Jackson, 
who  never  liked  either  the  man  or  his  philosophy,  was 
now  the  selected  successor  of  the  one  and  exponent  of 
the  other.  Jefferson,  while  coquetting  with  the  theories 
of  Patrick  Henry,  had  ignored  them  in  practice.  Now 
Calhoun  and  Hayne  had  set  Jefferson  aside  and  pro- 
claimed Patrick  Henry  as  the  true  prophet.  They  had 
not  only  declared  the  purely  ministerial  character  of  the 
Federal  Government,  but  they  had  also  announced  their 
faith  that  the  sovereign  State,  through  the  voice  of  its 
people,  possessed  the  reserved  right  to  annul  the  Federal 
laws.  In  this  he  who  ran  might  read  the  preface  of 
secession  and  disunion.  This  Jackson  foresaw  as  clearly 
in  1830  as  he  could  have  seen  it  in  1861  had  he  lived 
so  long. 


240        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

Besides  all  these  patriotic  instincts,  there  was  another 
phase  of  the  situation  that  appealed  to  the  strongest  trait 
in  his  character — there  was  the  chance  of  a  fight  in  it. 
He  had  not  yet  openly  broken  with  Calhoun.  But  those 
nearest  to  his  inner  confidence  knew  that  he  only  awaited 
opportunity  that  would  give  him  the  popular  side  in  the 
combat.  Since  he  had  been  President  he  had  learned 
some  truths  about  Calhoun's  real  attitude  toward  him  in 
1819;  truths  that  Calhoun  had  fondly  imagined  to  be 
buried  in  the  secrecy  of  cabinet  council.  In  other  words, 
he  had  learned  that,  pretending  out  of  doors  to  be  his 
friend,  Calhoun  had  been  his  enemy  in  Monroe's  Cabinet. 
Not  much  knowledge  of  Jackson  is  required  to  appre- 
hend the  impression  such  a  revelation  of  facing  both 
ways  must  make  upon  him.  Jackson  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  crush  Calhoun  befor^e  Hayne's  avowal  of  the 
doctrines  and  the  intentions  of  South  Carolina.  The 
uplifting  of  the  serpent's  head  in  Nullification  only  gave 
him  a  mark  to  strike  at.    And  he  did  not  spare  the  blow. 

The  Jefferson  banquet  was  a  grand  one.  To  the 
President  was,  of  course,  accorded  the  honor  of  the  first 
volunteer  toast.  No  one — except  his  private  secretary 
and  the  members  of  his  ''kitchen  cabinet'' — had  the 
remotest  inkling  of  what  was  to  come.  Only  Benton, 
Hill,  Lewis  and  Kendall  knew  the  President's  intention. 
The  general  drift  of  the  regular  toasts,  as  Benton  de- 
scribes the  affair,  and  of  the  short  speeches  that  accom- 
panied them,  had  been  that  of  an  effort  to  identify  Jef- 
ferson's teachings  with  the  ultra  State-rights  theory  and 
to  make  him,  not  the  apostle  of  Democracy  so  much  as 
the  high  priest  of  Nullification. 

When  Jackson   rose  to  tlie   privilege  of  the  leading 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  241 

volunteer  toast,  he  straightened  to  his  full  height,  raised 
his  right  hand,  looked  straight  at  Calhoun  and,  amid  a 
hush  that  was  almost  breathless,  said — in  that  crisp, 
harsh  tone  that  had  so  often  been  heard  above  the  crash- 
ing of  many  rifles — ''Our  Federal  Union!  It  Must  and 
Shall  be  Preserved  T  * 

Not  long  afterward,  Isaac  Hill,  who  was  present,  said : 

A  proclamation  of  martial  law  in  South  Carolina  and  an 
order  to  arrest  Calhoun  where  he  sat  could  not  have  come 
with  more  blinding,  staggering  force.  All  hilarity  ceased.  The 
President,  without  adding  one  word  in  the  way  of  a  speech, 
lifted  up  his  glass  as  a  notice  that  the  toast  was  to  be  quaffed 

*  This  famous  phrase  has  been  badly  mangled  by  careless  reproduction. 
Most  readers  in  our  day,  if  asked  what  Jackson  said,  would  answer  :  "  The 
Union!  It  must  and  shall  be  preserved  !"  What  he  did  say  was  :  "Our 
Federal  Union!"  etc.  To  apprehend  fully  the  distinction  it  is  necessary  to 
know  the  spirit  of  the  time  in  which  the  words  were  used.  Calhoun  did 
say  in  his  toast  merely  "The  Union."  But  Jackson  called  it  "Our  Federal 
Union."  Jackson's  phrase  meant  a  specific  political  fact  and  expressed  a 
particular  patriotic  thought  which  Calhoun's  did  not  mean  or  express. 
Calhoun's  "The  Union"  referred  simply  to  an  existing  fact,  but  recognized 
no  reason  for  its  existence.  It  might  have  meant  "A  Union"  or  "Any 
Union"  or  "Some  Union."  It  might  have  been  a  thing  hated  or  feared 
— and  many  of  Calhoun's  followers  did  hate  or  fear  it  or  both.  Maybe  he 
himself  did. 

But  General  Jackson's  "Our  Federal  Union!"  could  mean  but  one  thing. 
It  meant  not  only  that  the  Union  existed,  but  also  gave  two  reasons  for  its 
existence  ;  one  of  statesmanship,  the  other  of  patriotism.  The  phrase  was 
not  extempore.  He  had  deliberated  over  it  for  days  beforehand.  He  had 
submitted  several  forms  to  excellent  judges  of  phraseology.  Benton,  Ken- 
dall, Isaac  Hill  and  Major  Lewis  were  skilled  and  practical  writers,  masters 
of  dialectics  and  acute  in  "shades  of  meaning."  And  they  all  had  approved 
his  own  preference  for  the  form  he  used.  Other  phrases,  framed  but  dis- 
carded, were:  "Our  Union!  Let  us  preserve  it!"  "The  Federal  Union! 
It  must  be  preserved!"  "The  Union  of  our  fathers!  Their  sons  must 
defend  it!"  "The  Union  of  the  .States!  Perfect  and  imperishable!"  All 
these  were  considered  and  finally  set  aside,  in  favor  of  "Our  Federal  Union! 
It  must  and  shall  be  preserved!"  The  choice  was  wise  to  inspiration, 
(Reminiscence  of  Mr.  Blair  to  the  Author.) 

Vol.  II.— 16 


242     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

standing.  Calhoun  rose  with  the  rest.  His  glass  so  trembled 
in  his  hand  that  a  little  of  the  amber  fluid  trickled  down  the 
side.  Jackson  stood  silent  and  impassive.  There  was  no 
response  to  the  toast.  Calhoun  waited  until  all  sat  down.  Then 
he  slowly  and  with  hesitating  accent  offered  the  second  volun- 
teer toast: 

"The  Union!     Next  to  Our  Liberty  the  Most  Dear!" 
Then,   after  half  a  minute's  hesitation,   and   in   a  way   that 
left  doubt  as  to  whether  he  intended  it  for  part  of  the  toast 
or  for  the  preface  to  a  speech,  he  added : 

''May  we  all  remember  that  it  can  only  be  preserved  by 
respecting  the  rights  of  the  States  and  by  distributing  equally 
the  benefits  and  burdens  of  the  Union. 

The  contrast  between  the  terse,  quick  sentiment  of 
General  Jackson  and  the  labored  deliverance  of  Calhoun 
was  almost  painful.  It  was  the  difference  between  the 
crack  of  a  rifle  and  an  old  musket  flashing  in  the  pan. 
That  Calhoun  had  been  taken  by  surprise  and  thrown 
completely  off  his  feet  was  apparent  to  all,  and  to  none 
so  painfully  as  to  his  friends  or  colleagues.  The  incident 
itself  was  quickly  over.  Other  volunteer  toasts  followed 
in  due  succession,  but  there  was  no  more  zest.  The 
company — more  than  a  hundred  at  the  start — dwindled 
to  thirty  within  five  minutes  after  Calhoun  sat  down. 

'^General  Jackson,"  says  Mr.  Hill,  ''rose  from  his  seat 
and  went  to  the  end  of  the  room  where  Benton  was. 
The  two  engaged  in  conversation,  but  it  was  not  about 
this  episode.  I  could  not  help  thinking — what  a  differ- 
ence between  1813  and  1830;  between  the  banquet-hall 
in  Washington  and  the  hallway  of  the  old  City  Hotel 
in  Nashville!  And  Jackson  still  carried  Benton's  bullet 
in  his  flesh!" 

In  his  Thirty  Years  in  the  Senate,  Benton  describes 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  243 

the  scene  and  its  effect.     After  reciting  the  two  toasts, 
he  comments  on  that  of  Calhoun : 

This  toast  touched  every  tender  part  of  the  new  question; 
Hberty  before  union;  only  to  be  preserved;  State  rights;  in- 
equahty  of  burdens  and  benefits.  These  phrases,  connecting 
themselves  with  Mr.  Hayne's  speech  and  with  proceedings  and 
publications  in  South  Carolina,  unveiled  Nullification  as  a  new 
and  distinct  doctrine  in  the  United  States,  with  Mr.  Calhoun 
as  the  leader  of  a  new  party  in  the  field  .  .  .  and  revealed  to 
the  public  mind  the  fact  of  an  actual  design  tending  to  dissolve 
the  Union. 

All  this  Jackson  well  knew.  He  saw  that  the  progress 
of  Nullification  must  bring  on  a  fight,  and  he  applied 
to  the  situation  his  favorite  tactics  in  w^ar — he  forced 
the  fighting.  It  was  like  his  night-battle  of  December 
23d.  He  did  not  wait  for  the  enemy  to  attack  him  in 
the  morning.  He  struck  the  enemy  in  the  dark  in  his 
own  bivouac. 

Of  course,  the  issue  involved  then  was  upon  a  minor 
question  as  compared  with  the  one  that  soon  took  its 
place.  It  was  only  an  affair  of  customs;  of  a  tariff. 
There  was  nothing  in  that  to  kindle  the  imagination 
or  stir  the  hearts  of  the  people.  It  was  only  when  human 
slavery  became  the  issue  that  the  republic  shook  to  its 
foundations.  But  all  great  things  begin  small.  That 
Jefferson  banquet  in  Washington,  April  13,  1830,  set 
going  a  contest  between  two  irreconcilable  schools  of 
thought;  between  two  doctrines  that  could  not  live  to- 
gether under  the  same  flag ;  between  two  forces  that  must 
fight  until  one  or  the  other  perished.  The  contest  begun 
at  the  banquet  lasted  thirty-five  years  and  ended  at  Ap- 
pomattox.    In  such  a  struggle  it  was  a  miracle  of  good 


244       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

fortune  for  the  right  side  to  have  Andrew  Jackson  at 
its  start  and  Abraham  Lincoln  at  its  finish. 

From  that  time  to  the  end  of  the  session — seven  weeks 
— Httle  was  talked  of  in  Washington  but  Union  and 
Nullification ;  Jackson  and  Calhoun.  Few  realized  the 
full  gravity  of  the  peril.  Many  viewed  it  as  a  blow 
opportunely  struck  by  Jackson  at  an  aspirant  to  the 
presidency  whom  it  was  his  policy  to  crush.  There  was 
doubt  as  to  w^hich  would  in  the  outcome  fare  worse — 
the  man  who  struck  or  who  received  the  blow\  Some 
believed  it  would  detach  all  the  anti-tariff  States  from 
Jackson  and  drive  them  to  Calhoun.  Among  these  was 
the  last-named  gentleman  himself.  Clay,  Webster  and 
other  Whig  leaders  believed  the  result  would  be  a 
Democracy  divided  betw-een  Jackson  and  Calhoun,  and 
a  consequent  repetition  of  minority  triumphant  as  in 
1824.  The  wish  was  father  to  the  thought.  A  Whig 
paper  in  New^  York  suggested  that  ''the  South  had  elected 
Jackson  President  for  the  same  reason  that  a  farmer 
fattens  a  hog — only  to  kill  him." 

To  this  the  inevitable  Isaac  Hill  retorted :  "And  then 
you  expect  to  steal  the  pork  again,  as  you  did  five  years 
ago." 

News  of  the  ominous  banquet  sped  to  South  Carolina 
as  well  as  to  New  England.  Singularly,  the  Nullifica- 
tion organs  of  Charleston  and  the  Whig  papers  of 
Boston  agreed  that  it  was  a  Belshazzar's  feast  and  that 
the  handwriting  had  been  seen  on  the  wall.  And,  what 
was  still  more  grotesque,  these  two  extremes  agreed 
tliat  the  Belshazzar  was  Jackson.  This  brought  forth 
from  Amos  Kendall's  pen  the  epigram,  afterward  fa- 
mous in  the  literature  of  a  campaign,  that  "Clay  'vould 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  245 

be  willing  to  be  President  of  half  the  Union  if  he 
couldn't  get  the  whole  of  it;  and  in  that,  if  in  nothing 
else,  he  and  Calhoun  were  agreed." 

During  all  this  discussion  Jackson  held  his  peace.  But 
one  expression  from  him  has  been  authentically  recorded. 
A  few  days  after  Congress  adjourned,  Mr.  Potter,  of 
South  Carolina,  who  was  about  to  leave  the  Capital  for 
his  home,  called  on  the  President.  Mr.  Potter  was  one 
of  the  Jackson  leaders  in  the  House ;  author  of  the  tabled 
resolutions  approving  the  Bank  policy  foreshadowed  in 
the  President's  message.  On  the  point  of  taking  his 
leave,  Mr.  Potter  asked: 

''Have  you  any  message  for  your  friends  in  my  State, 
General?" 

"Nothing  in  particular  that  I  think  of  just  now ;  but — 
yes,  wait  a  minute!  Are  those  Charleston  folks  who 
declared  in  mass-meeting  the  other  day  that  the  army 
and  navy  were  not  big  enough  to  collect  a  penny  of 
duties  the  people  didn't  want  to  pay — are  they  in  earnest? 
Did  they  mean  it  ?    Or  do  they  realize  what  their  words 


mean 


?•'• 


"I  am  afraid  they  mean  it.  General!" 

"Well,  then,  tell  them  from  me  that  they  can  talk 
and  write  resolutions  and  print  threats  to  their  hearts' 
content.  But  if  one  drop  of  blood  be  shed  there  in 
defiance  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  I  will  hang 
the  first  man  of  them  I  can  get  my  hands  on  to  the  first 
tree  I  can  find!'' 

Mr.  Potter's  response,  if  any,  is  not  of  record.  But 
an  admonition  of  that  kind  from  Andrew  Jackson  carried 
with  it  at  least  the  weight  of  a  reputation  for  hanging 
people  which  no  one  could  say  was  not  well  earned. 


246       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

It  does  not  seem  necessary  to  pursue  the  subject  of 
Nullification  further  at  this  point.  The  people  of  South 
Carolina  observed  the  advice  General  Jackson  sent  to 
them  through  the  amiable  Mr.  Potter.  They  talked  and 
wrote  and  passed  fiery  resolutions  to  their  hearts'  con- 
tent, but  they  did  not  shed  any  blood.  And  Jackson  did 
not  hang  any  of  them.  The  remark  he  made  to  Mr. 
Potter,  however,  soon  found  its  way  into  public  gossip. 

One  day  not  long  afterward.  Colonel  Hayne  said  to 
Benton :  "I  don't  believe  he  would  really  hang  anybody, 
do  you?" 

''Well,"  replied  Benton,  "before  he  invaded  Florida 
on  his  own  hook,  few  people  could  have  believed  that 
he  would  hang  Arbuthnot  and  shoot  Ambrister — also  on 
his  own  authority — could  they?  I  tell  you,  Hayne,  when 
Jackson  begins  to  talk  about  hanging,  they  can  begin 
to  look  out  for  ropes !"  * 

Congress  adjourned  and  its  members  went  home  to 
"look  after  their  fences"  for  the  congressional  campaign 
of  1830.  The  Whigs  made  no  concerted  effort  to  regain 
control  of  the  House  in  this  campaign.  Perhaps  they 
were  still  appalled  by  the  memory  of  the  avalanche  two 
years  before.  Thurlow  Weed  once  bluntly  declared  that, 
"as  the  Bank  had  retired  from  politics  and  Jackson  had 
evicted  all  their  place-holders,  the  Whigs  had  no  source 
of  political  income  in  1830  and  '31."  The  Democratic 
majority  in  the  preceding  Congress — 150  against  41 — 
was  cut  down  to  139  against  52;  but  that  signified  noth- 
ing. The  United  States  Bank  still  had  a  majority  of 
its  own.  The  senatorial  changes  consequent  upon  the 
election  of  1830  added  only  one  to  the  Jackson  strength, 

*  Reminiscence  by  William  Allen,  related  to  him  by  Benton  himself. 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  247 

which  gave  him  under  normal  conditions  a  vote  of  26 
to  22.  But  the  Senate  still  retained  its  distinctive  inde- 
pendence, and  was  by  no  means  so  "reliable"  as  the 
House. 

One  old  condition,  and  a  most  important  one,  was  not 
changed  in  the  composition  of  the  Senate.  It  still  had 
a  majority  for  the  Bank — small,  indeed,  but  safe — 25 
against  23  on  a  full  vote.  The  new  Congress,  of  course, 
would  not  meet  until  December,  1831,  and  the  old  one 
would  live  until  March  4th.  It  proved  by  no  means  the 
last  Senate  with  a  United  States  Bank  majority.  Late 
in  the  short  session,  Mr.  Benton  decided  formally  to 
open  the  anti-Bank  campaign  with  a  speech,  as  a  text  for 
w^hich  he  offered  a  resolution.  His  object  w^as  merely 
to  place  the  topic  before  the  country  in  order  that  the 
new  Senate  might  have  plenty  of  time  to  hear  from  the 
people  before  meeting  in  December.  Benton  always  con- 
sidered this  his  greatest  speech,  and  in  his  Thirty  Years 
comments  upon  it  and  its  effects  with  undiluted  satisfac- 
tion. 'Tt  was  a  speech,"  he  says,  ''to  be  read  by  the 
people — the  masses — the  millions.  ...  It  has  been 
complimented  since  as  having  crippled  the  Bank,  and 
given  it  the  wound  of  which  it  afterward  died."  The 
resolution  was  defeated,  as  he  expected  it  w^ould  be — 
by  2T,  to  20. 

The  short  session  of  i830-'3i  was  otherwise  unevent- 
ful, and  when  Congress  adjourned,  the  4th  of  March, 
it  left  the  administration  wdth  nine  months  of  time  be- 
fore it,  all  its  own. 

General  Jackson  had  abundant  use  for  this  period  of 
non-interference.  He  had  determined  to  reorganize  his 
Cabinet  completely.     There  seems  to  be  an  impression 


248        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

that  the  social  troubles  of  Mrs.  Eaton  were  at  the  bot- 
tom of  this  movement.  Mr.  Parton,  whose  investiga- 
tion and  analysis  of  that  episode  were  more  exhaustive 
than  any  other  we  have  seen,  inclines  to  that  theory. 
Doubtless  the  social  embarrassments  consequent  upon 
the  stubborn  proscription  of  Mrs.  Eaton  by  the  Calhoun, 
Branch,  Ingham  and  Berrien  women  formed  a  contribu- 
tory cause  for  reorganization.  But  the  main  cause  w^as 
far  deeper  and  more  weighty  than  could  result  from 
any  feminine  squabble.  Besides,  at  this  time  (the  spring 
of  1 831)  these  troubles  had  practically  adjusted  them- 
selves. 

General  Jackson's  own  views  on  the  subject  of  the 
social  difficulty  had  been  clearly  stated  in  a  conversation 
with  the  paymaster-general  of  the  army,  Colonel  Tow- 
son,  whose  wife  was  among  tjie  principal  enemies  of 
Mrs.  Eaton  and  chief,  if  not  only,  prompter  of  the  Rev. 
Drs.  Campbell  and  Ely.  On  behalf  of  his  wife  and  her 
colleagues.  Colonel  Towson  had  remonstrated  against 
the  selection  of  Major  Eaton  before  the  appointment 
was  officially  made.  In  reply  to  a  question,  Colonel 
Towson  told  the  General  that  there  was  no  objection 
to  Major  Eaton,  but  that  "great  objections  were  made 
to  his  wife." 

General  Jackson  inquired  what  his  wife  could  have 
to  do  with  the  duties  of  the  War  Department. 

Colonel  Towson  replied  in  effect  that  the  other  cabinet 
women  would  not  recognize  her,  which  would  cause 
annoyance  to  all  concerned. 

To  this  General  Jackson  replied :  * 'Colonel,  do  you 
suppose  that  the  people  sent  me  here  to  consult  the 
ladies  of  Washington  as  to  the  proper  persons  to  com- 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  249 

pose  my  Cabinet  ?  .  .  .  I  shall  consult  my  own  judg- 
ment, looking  singly  to  the  interests  of  the  country  and 
not  to  accommodation  of  society  and  the  drawing-rooms 
of  this  or  any  other  city." 

Notwithstanding  this  disclaimer,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  social  situation  had  annoyed  the  President. 
Among  other  things,  it  had  caused  Mrs.  Emily  Donel- 
son's  return  to  Tennessee  in  1830,  leaving  the  White 
House  without  a  mistress,  and  with  her  had  gone  her 
husband,  the  President's  useful  private  secretary.  When 
Mrs.  Donelson  returned  to  Nashville,  she  found  herself 
^'frowned  upon  by  society"  and  seriously  discountenanced 
by  her  own  relatives  for  having,  as  they  expressed  it, 
"played  the  fool."  * 

The  result  was  that  in  less  than  six  months  Mrs. 
Donelson  and  her  husband  returned  to  the  White  House; 
and  when  she  returned  she  adopted  a  very  different 
attitude  toward  the  w^omen  who  had  misled  her.  This 
had  been  the  greatest  of  the  President's  annoyances,  and 
now  that  it  was  happily  ended,  he  cared  little  or  nothing 
for  the  other  social  aspects. 

True,  the  ill-feeling  that  had  naturally  grown  up  be- 
tween Messrs.  Branch,  Berrien  and  Ingham  on  the  one 
hand  and  Secretary  Eaton  on  the  other  resulted  practi- 
cally in  a  suspension  of  cabinet  councils  for  nearly  fifteen 
months.     But  even  this  was  not  the  real  trouble.     The 

*  Mrs.  Polk,  the  wife  of  President  Polk,  described  Mrs.  Donelson  as 
"  one  of  the  best  women  in  the  world  and,  though  not  brilliant,  yet  of  good 
mental  endowment.  But  she  had  not  seen  the  great  world  until  she  went 
to  Washington  as  the  '  first  lady  of  the  land.'  Therefore  she  was  easily  led 
by  scheming  women  of  long  experience  in  the  society  of  Washington.  ^  Her 
illusions  were  soon  dispelled  and  she  eageriy  embraced  the  opportunity  to 
enjoy  again  the  position  that  her  illustrious  uncle  wished  her  to  hold." 


250       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

three  cabinet  officers  first  named  were  known  to  be  Cal- 
houn men.  In  addition  to  that  fact,  the  General  had 
found  out — or  believed — that  Ingham  was  secretly  a 
Bank  man,  and  he  entertained  no  flattering  suspicions 
as  to  the  causes  of  his  conversion  to  the  standard  of 
"the  Emperor  Nicholas,"  as  Mr.  Biddle,  the  Bank's  pres- 
ident and  autocrat,  was  popularly  called.  Berrien,  he 
believed  to  be  at  heart  a  Nullifier;  and  it  seemed  incon- 
gruous to  have  at  the  head  of  the  law  department  a  man 
w^ho  secretly  favored  the  policy  of  defying  and  resisting 
the  laws  he  was  sworn  to  enforce.  For  Branch  the 
General  cherished  a  kind  of  sentimental  attachment  for 
the  reason  that  a  near  relative  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  had  been  his  school-teacher  in  boyhood  at  the  Wax- 
haws  Settlement.  But  upon  close  contact  he  had  found 
Branch  dull,  pompous,  incompetent  and  wholly  under 
petticoat  government,  not  merely  in  social  affairs,  but  in 
the  official  conduct  of  the  Navy  Department  itself. 

This,  however,  was  not  singular,  because,  with  tw^o 
or  three  possible  exceptions  in  recent  years,  all  secretaries 
of  the  navy  have  been  brought  into  more  or  less  bondage 
by  the  charming  and  diplomatic  wives  and  daughters  of 
that  arm  of  service.  Branch,  however,  seems  to  have 
been  an  extreme  case,  if  we  may  rely  upon  the  stories 
of  such  veterans  of  the  old  navy  as  Stewart,  Shubrick 
and  the  elder  John  Rodgers.  Candor,  however,  compels 
the  author  to  admit,  as  a  result  of  thirty  years'  experi- 
ence and  close  observation  in  Washington,  that  if  any 
cabinet  officer  may  be  exculpated  for  surrender  to  femi- 
nine influence,  it  is  he  who  has  to  deal  with  the  ladies 
of  the  navy.  On  the  average,  they  are  the  brightest 
and  most  captivating  coterie  in  the  world. 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  251 

Besides  these  considerations,  Jackson  had  thus  far 
adhered  to  his  original  single-term  resolution.  He  was 
a  sick  man.  The  terrible  malaria  of  Washington  was, 
he  thought,  killing  him  by  inches,  and  he  longed  for  the 
pure  air  and  the  invigorating  climate  of  his  own  Ten- 
nessee. At  the  Hermitage  he  was  always  well.  Every- 
where else  he  was  always  ill.  He  had  selected  Mr.  Van 
Buren  as  his  successor.  Mr.  Van  Buren  believed  a 
secluded  nook,  such  as  the  English  mission,  far  from 
the  whirl  of  American  politics,  would  improve  his  own 
political  health  as  a  presidential  candidate  in  training. 
Major  Eaton,  sick  and  tired  of  the  indignities  to  which 
he  had  been  subjected,  was  anxious  to  get  out  of  the 
Cabinet.  Colonel  Barry  did  not  count  in  this  intricate 
game,  and  was  therefore  left  out  of  the  calculation,  to 
hold  the  General  Post-office  at  his  pleasure.  The  result 
was,  between  April  and  June,  1831,  Edward  Livingston, 
of  Louisiana,  succeeded  Mr.  Van  Buren;  General  Lewis 
Cass,  of  Michigan,  took  the  place  of  Major  Eaton;  Sen- 
ator Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire,  supplanted  Mr. 
Branch;  Roger  B.  Taney,  of  Maryland,  relieved  Mr. 
Berrien  as  Attorney-General ;  while  Louis  McLane  came 
home  from  the  English  mission  to  take  the  Treasury 
Department  from  Mr.  Ingham. 

Incidental  to  these  changes,  Mr.  Van  Buren  went 
to  England  vice  Mr.  McLane  and  Isaac  Hill  came,  in 
place  of  Mr.  Woodbury,  to  sit  in  that  Senate  which  had 
refused  to  confirm  him  as  second  comptroller  the  pre- 
vious year. 

Such  a  general  break-up  of  such  a  structure  could 
hardly  be  expected  to  pass  without  injury  to  someone 
somewhere.     Mrs.   Ingham  had  led  the  persecution  of 


252       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Mrs.  Eaton.  As  soon  as  both  were  out  of  the  Cabinet, 
Major  Eaton  endeavored  to  hold  Mr.  Ingham  person- 
ally responsible  for  the  utterances  of  his  wife.  Mr. 
Ingham  declined  the  belligerent  overtures  of  Major 
Eaton.  The  latter  then  lay  in  wait  for  his  late  colleague 
with  a  horsewhip.  Mr.  Ingham  used  other  streets  in 
his  travel  about  town  than  those  upon  which  Major 
Eaton  was  looking  for  him.  Finally,  the  quest  became 
so  acute  that  Mr.  Ingham  took  to  communicating  with 
his  own  lodgings  by  w^ay  of  the  alley,  backyard  and 
backdoor.  He  ultimately  escaped  by  chartering  a  stage- 
coach and  leaving  for  Philadelphia  two  hours  before 
daybreak. 

This  programme  had  involved  seven  different  moves 
on  the  chess-board.  Only  one  failed.  The  President's 
plan  was  to  give  the  War  Department  to  Senator  Hugh 
White,  of  Tennessee,  thereby  making  a  vacancy  in  the 
Senate,  to  which  Major  Eaton  was  ''slated"  for  election. 
Mr.  \\^hite  refused  to  leave  the  Senate.  He  was  as 
friendly  now  to  General  Jackson — or  pretended  to  be — 
as  he  ever  had  been  when  he  depended  on  the  "machine" 
for  his  political  fortune.  But  he  did  not  like  Eaton, 
and  was  unwilling  to  contribute  to  any  scheme  for  his 
accommodation.  This  difficulty  might  have  been  over- 
come. But  there  was  a  deeper  reason,  wdiich  he  did 
not  reveal  until  years  afterward — w^hich  he  revealed  only 
when  the  ''machine,"  in  the  strong  and  ruthless  hands 
of  General  Carroll  and  Major  Lewis,  had  crushed  him 
and  driven  him  into  feeble  and  hopeless  opposition  at 
the  end  of  his  term. 

Then  he  admitted — or  his  friends  did  for  him — that 
he  saw  the  scheme  was  intended,  among  other  objects, 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  253 

to  promote  Van  Buren's  chances  for  the  next  presidency, 
and  he  hated  Van  Buren.  Mr.  White  liked  Calhoun, 
and  leaned  as  far  as  he  dared  toward  the  extreme,  ultra 
State-rights  doctrine.  But  he  was  not  prepared  to  side 
with  Calhoun  in  an  open  war  against  Jackson.  He  could, 
however,  privately  share  Calhoun's  hatred  of  Van  Buren. 
He  rebelled  against  Jackson — who  had  made  him.  He 
served  out  his  term  in  the  Senate — to  which  Jackson 
had  elected  him.  That  was  all.  White's  defection  post- 
poned provision  for  Eaton  nearly  three  years.  In  1834 
he  was  made  governor  of  Florida  and  in  1836  minister 
to  Spain,  where  Mrs.  Eaton's  career  was  brilliant  and 
creditable — in  a  society  where  only  very  able  women 
can  shine.* 

We  have  said  that  '^only  one  of  seven  moves  failed." 
To  that  possibly  another,  at  least  partial,  failure  should 
be  added.  Mr.  Van  Buren  went  to  England  in  July. 
The  Senate  met  in  December.     Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Web- 

*  In  1873  and  until  1879  Mrs.  Eaton'^'as  living  in  Washington.  In  the 
last-named  year  she  died,  aged  eighty-three.  The  Author  became  acquainted 
with  her  in  the  former  year,  when  she  was  seventy-seven.  She  was  in  mod- 
erate circumstances,  having  suffered  financial  reverses  some  years  before. 
But  she  was  bright,  cheerful,  and  apparently  as  entertaining  as  when  in 
youth  she  was  wont  to  turn  the  heads  of  solemn  statesmen  and  grave 
diplomatists.  With  regard  to  that  phase  of  her  life  most  interesting  to 
American  readers  she  was  neither  reticent  nor  communicative.  Her  favor- 
ite themes  of  reminiscence  were  anecdotes  of  the  great  men  she  had  known 
in  her  girlhood  at  her  father's  hostelry;  her  own  observations  in  Spain 
during  her  husband's  residence  there  as  American  minister  (1836-1840), 
and  personal  recollections  of  General  Jackson,  Colonel  Benton,  Mr.  Van 
Buren,  Isaac  Hill  and  others.  She  spoke  of  those  who  had  persecuted  her, 
with  singular  gentleness  and  charity.  But  she  "felt  warranted  in  saying 
one  thing":  That  the  real  motive  of  the  crusade  against  her  was  the  fact 
that  she  was  the  daughter  of  parents  who  kept  a  boarding-house,  while  three 
of  the  four  families  whose  ladies  made  war  upon  her  were  Southern  aristo- 
crats. The  assault  upon  her  moral  character  was  a  pretext.  As  for  the 
fourth  family  (meaning,  of  course,  the  Inghams)  she  said  that  the  woman 


u 


254       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

ster  resolved  to  defeat  his  confirmation.  They  succeeded 
— with  the  help  of  Hugh  White  and  some  other  Demo- 
cratic enemies  of  Mr.  Van  Buren.  They  fondly  imag- 
ined that  the  rejection  of  the  nomination  would  end  his 
political  career.  Mr.  Calhoun,  at  the  opposite  extreme, 
agreed  with  them.  It  made  him  Vice-President  in  1832 
and  President  in  1836.  A  remarkable  peculiarity  of  the 
''political  management"  of  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster 
was  that  it  invariably  served  to  keep  both  out  of  the 
presidency  or  the  vice-presidency,  and  more  than  once — 
or  than  twice — helped  those  they  hated  worst  to  get  in. 
Neither  of  them  could  understand  why  the  plain  people 
should  pass  by  two  such  orators  as  they  were  to  glorify 
and  exalt  a  "mere  rude  military  chief"  or  a  shrewd 
politician. 

The  ground  now^  seemed  well  cleared  of  all  minor 
obstructions  and  open  for  a  fair  trial  of  strength  be- 
tw^een  the  administration  and  the  Bank;  between  General 
Jackson  and  the  "Emperor  Nicholas."  In  this  contest 
the  President  soon  found  that  he  had  not  gained  an  ally 
in  his  new  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Mr.  McLane.* 

in  that  family  may  have  thought  it  a  convenient  way  of  distracting  attention 
from  herself  ;  though  on  that  score  she  said  she  had  always  preferred  to 
believe  that  the  woman,  no  matter  how  bitterly  she  may  have  pursued  her- 
self, was  better  than  those  who  whispered  about  her.  General  Jackson's 
defence  of  her,  she  said,  was  wholly  unsolicited  and  he  never  took  counsel 
with  her  at  any  stage  of  it.  As  for  her  presiding  at  the  White  House  on  a 
few  occasions,  it  was  at  his  request  through  her  husband,  which,  as  she 
viewed  it,  amounted  to  an  order. 

*  On  this  subject  we  have  a  characteristic  comment  from  Senator  Isaac 
Hill  :  "No  matter  by  what  name  he  may  go — Federalist  or  Republican, 
Whig  or  Democrat,  Unionist  or  NuUifier — you  can't  find  a  real,  genuine, 
simon-pure  anti-Bank  man  anywhere  within  two  days'  ride  of  Nick  Biddle. 
They  may  profess  and  pretend,  but  when  the  pinch  comes,  they  vote  for  the 
Bank  or  not  at  all."  Mr.  Hill  was  mistaken  :  Roger  B.  Taney  lived  with 
in  the  "two  days'  ride." 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  255 

Notwithstanding  the  large  nominal  Democratic  ma- 
jority in  the  House  and  the  apparent  preponderance  of 
so-called  Democrats  in  the  Senate  of  this  Congress,  the 
Bank  had  a  "working  majority"  in  each.  It  was  the 
Congress  chosen  in  November,  1830 — the  middle  of  the 
administrative  term.  Its  first  or  ''long"  session,  begin- 
ning in  December,  1831,  would  extend  into  midsummer, 
1832 — the  presidential  year.  It  was  known  that  Gen- 
eral Jackson  had  abandoned  his  one-term  intention  and 
would  stand  for  re-election.  That  he  would  be  re-elected 
was  known  to  a  majority  of  the  American  people,  and 
believed  by  most  of  the  minority — except  Clay,  Webster, 
Nicholas  Biddle  and  Calhoun.  The  charter  of  the  Bank 
had  until  March  4,  1836,  to  run,  which  would  carry  it 
nearly  through  Jackson's  second  term.  These  conditions 
brought  forward  the  question  whether  to  force  the  con- 
test or  let  it  go  over  till  after  the  election.  General 
Jackson's  attitude  was  known  from  the  two  messages 
in  which  he  had  dealt  with  the  subject  none  the  less 
explicitly  because  conservatively.  Benton,  in  his  great 
senatorial  speech,  had  announced  the  position  of  the 
Democratic  party  as  such.  We  have  the  authority  of 
Edward  Livingston,  Major  Lewis,  Amos  Kendall  and 
Mr.  Blair  that  both  Jackson  and  Benton  were  willing 
to  rest  the  case  there  until  after  the  presidential  contest 
of  1832.  Not  that  they  feared  the  issue,  but  they  pre- 
ferred to  leave  the  Bank  out  of  the  maelstrom  of  that 
campaign  as  it  had  been  left  out  in  1824  and  1828. 
Benton  believed  that,  as  compared  with  the  Congress 
chosen  in  1830,  the  Bank  w^ould  lose  strength  in  that 
to  be  chosen  in  1832.  He  did  not  anticipate  a  clear 
anti-Bank  majority  in  the  new  Senate,  but  there  was  a 


256       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

chance  of  making  a  tie  on  the  floor — 24  to  24 — and  as 
Mr.  Van  Buren  would,  beyond  doubt,  be  elected  Vice- 
President,  the  casting  vote  would  be  against  the  Bank. 

The  choice  as  to  postponing  or  precipitating  the  con- 
flict was.  therefore,  left  wholly  to  the  Bank  and  its 
friends.  Among  the  managers  of  the  Bank,  and  also 
among  its  supporters  in  Congress,  there  was  difference 
of  opinion  upon  the  question  of  expediency.  Those  op- 
posed to  forcing  the  fight  were  in  the  numerical  majority. 
But  those  who  could  not  or  would  not  sanction  the 
Fabian  policy  embraced  the  vast  preponderance  of  power 
and  ambition.  They  knew  that  a  bill  to  renew  the 
charter  for  twenty  years  after  1836  could  be  passed 
tTirough  Congress.  They  also  knew  that  Jackson  would 
veto  it.  And  there  was  no  hope  of  a  two-thirds  vote 
to  pass  it,  notwithstanding  tlT.e  objections  of  the  Presi- 
dent— or  "over  his  head,"  as  the  cant  phrase  is. 

The  whole  question  thus  became  one  of  expediency; 
a  game  in  politics.  If  Congress  passed  the  re-charter 
and  Jackson  vetoed  it,  then  the  Bank  must  either  elect 
a  new  Congress  with  a  two-thirds  majority  or  beat  Jack- 
son, or  go  to  the  wall.  No  plainer  situation  could  be 
conceived. 

The  Bank  people  did  not  waste  much  time  debating 
the  question  of  expediency.  Their  councils  were  soon 
resolved  into  a  triumvirate — Clay,  Webster  and  Nicholas 
Biddle.  At  the  outset  Mr.  Webster,  influenced  no  doubt 
by  the  views  of  Jeremiah  Mason — president  of  the  Ports- 
mouth branch  and  the  ablest  man  then  connected  with 
the  system — was  in  favor  of  delay.  Nicholas  Biddle — 
president  of  the  central  or  parent  Bank  and  aggressive 
to  a  fault — was  in  favor  of  forcing  the  issue.     Mr.  Clay 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  257 

was  the  presidential  candidate  of  the  Bank  people. 
Therefore,  both  Webster  and  Biddle  were  willing  to 
leave  the  ultimate  decision  to  him.  Mr.  Clay  was  deeply 
impressed  with  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  He  needed 
time  for  deliberation.  His  ''deliberation"  seems  to  have 
been  something  like  that  of  the  old  Mohawk  Dutchman 
unexpectedly  elected  justice  of  the  peace  in  Herkimer 
County,  New  York,  many  years  ago.  The  first  case  on 
his  docket  was  tried  without  jury,  by  agreement  of  the 
parties.  When  the  evidence  was  all  in  and  arguments 
concluded,  the  'Squire  said:  ''Shentelmen,  as  dis  iss  my 
first  gase,  I  shall  take  four  tays  to  gonsitter  der  effidence ; 
but  shall  finally  find  shudgment  for  der  blaintiff!" 

The  number  of  days  taken  by  Mr.  Clay  to  consider 
the  situation  is  not  of  record,  but  his  decision  is. 

He  decided  that  the  Bank  must  force  the  issue.  The 
reasoning  upon  which  he  based  his  conclusion  was  char- 
acteristic. He  always  figured  on  States.  Any  smaller 
or  more  simple  unit  than  a  State  was  beneath  his  notice 
in  a  political  calculation.  He  reasoned,  first,  that  Penn- 
sylvania was  the  key  of  the  situation;  that  New  York 
and  Ohio  would  go  as  Pennsylvania  went.  Such  a  com- 
bination— with  Kentucky,  which  he  personally  undertook 
to  ''deliver" — would  beat  Jackson.  He  reasoned,  second, 
that  in  a  purely  Bank  campaign,  Pennsylvania  must  go 
in  favor  of  the  Bank  because  it  was  a  Philadelphia  insti- 
tution, most  of  its  private  stock  was  owned  by  Pennsyl- 
vanians,  and  nearly  all  business  men  in  the  State,  irre- 
spective of  party,  were  under  obligations  to  it.  Besides 
these  considerations,  the  commanding  personal  and  social 
rank  of  Mr.  Biddle  must  prove  a  tower  of  strength.  To 
all  this  Mr.  Clay  might  have  added— under  his  breath— 
Vol.  II.— 17 


258       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

that  such  a  fighting  man  as  Mr.  Biddle  notedly  was 
would  not  be  likely  to  let  the  chance  of  victory  be  im- 
paled upon  any  point  of  false  economy  or  be  jeopardized 
by  overscrupulous  counting  of  honest  pennies  in  the 
make-up  of  a  campaign  expense-sheet. 

Thus  was  the  die  cast.  The  decision  was  reached 
almost  simultaneously  with  the  convening  of  Congress, 
December  6,  1831.  Ten  days  later  the  first  national 
convention  of  a  political  party  ever  held  in  this  country 
assembled  at  Baltimore  to  nominate  Henry  Clay  for 
President  and  John  Sergeant  for  Vice-President,  as  the 
candidates  of  what  may  henceforth  be  styled  the  Whig 
party.  Mr.  Sergeant  was  chosen  for  the  second  place 
to  strengthen  Mr.  Clay's  project  of  carrying  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Mr.  Sergeant's  place  in  his»own  time  was  more  emi- 
nent than  in  history.  A  graduate  of  Princeton,  he  for 
many  years  stood  at  the  head  of  the  Philadelphia  bar — 
in  days  when  the  term  ''Philadelphia  lawyer"  was  a 
proud  distinction.  He  was  not  only  a  great  lawyer,  but 
a  man  of  refined  literary  taste  and  ability,  a  patron  of 
the  fine  arts  and  a  promoter  of  learned  societies.  His 
character  was,  of  course,  perfectly  unassailable.  But 
he  had  no  large  political  following  in  the  State,  nor  did 
he  possess  the  arts  or  skill  of  the  politician.  His  place 
on  the  ticket  gave  it  no  strength  that  it  did  not  normally 
possess. 

Three  wrecks  after  these  nominations  were  made,  Sen- 
ator Dallas,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  Bank  Democrat,  offered 
in  the  Senate  a  memorial  from  the  United  States  Bank, 
signed  by  Nicholas  Biddle  as  its  president,  requesting 
that  Congress  renew  its  charter  for  the  usual  term  of 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  259 

twenty  years,  from  March  4,  1836.  When  he  offered 
the  memorial,  Mr.  Dallas  made  a  few  remarks  express- 
ing doubt  as  to  whether  this  was  the  most  opportune 
time  at  which  to  present  such  a  request,  but  said  it  was 
his  duty  to  conform  to  the  wishes  of  his  constituents 
in  the  matter  of  offering  petitions  or  memorials. 

The  programme  of  the  Bank  people  was  to  pass  the 
re-charter  in  the  Senate  first  and  then  put  it  through  the 
House,  believing  that  to  be  the  best  tactical  plan,  though 
they  were  sure  of  their  majority  in  either  branch  at  any 
time  the  vote  might  be  taken.     From  this  time  to  the 
4th  of  July — almost  six  months— Congress  did  nothing 
but    debate    and    investigate    the    United    States    Bank. 
Most  of  the  debating  was  senatorial.     The  House  did 
most  of  the  investigating,   the  chairman   of   the   select 
committee    being    ex-President    John    Quincy    Adams. 
The  Senate  debated  the  bill  almost  continuously  from 
the  end  of  January  to  the  loth  of  June,  and  passed  it 
the  nth,  by  a  vote  of  28  to  25,  Bank  Democrats  vot- 
ing with  the   Whigs.      Debate   in  the   House  was,   as 
usual,  limited.     The  bill  was  taken  up  June   i6th  and 
passed  July  3d,  by  vote  of   108  to  76.     Twenty-eight 
Bank  Democrats  voted  for  the  bill  in  the  House.     From 
these  votes  it  appeared  that  the  Bank  was  stronger  than 
the  President  in  both  branches  of  a  Congress  normally 
Democratic.     On  strict  party  lines,   the   Senate  would 
have  defeated  the  bill  by  25  to  23,  and  the  House  by 
104  to  80.* 

*  The  Author  once  asked  Governor  William  Allen  how  it  happened  that 
General  Jackson,  who  was  commonly  supposed  to  be  an  intolerant  man, 
never  manifested  displeasure  toward  those  Democrats  who  supported  the 
Bank.  He  answered  that  General  Jackson  never  questioned  the  action  of 
any  man  in  Congress.     He  never  demanded  personal  fealty  from  any  officials 


26o     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Apropos  of  the  controversy  in  Congress  over  the 
Bank,  much  injustice  has  been  done  to  the  memory  of 
General  Jackson  by  writers  of  really  just  intent,  who 
seem  either  to  base  a  whole  conclusion  upon  evidence 
of  a  part  or  to  accept  as  history  the  literary  wreckage 
of  political  campaigns  and  partisan  battle-fields.  Con- 
sider, for  example,  the  remark  of  Dr.  Woodrow  Wilson, 
in  his  History  of  the  American  People  (Vol.  IV.,  p.  14). 
''And  so,"  he  says,  "a  veritable  personal  government 
was  set  up,  so  far  as  the  Executive  and  tJic  discipline 

except  his  own  appointees.  He  awarded  the  proper  share  of  patronage  to 
Democratic  members  and  Senators  who  he  knew  would  vote  for  the  Bank, 
and  after  they  had  so  voted  he  gave  them  more.  In  the  whole  contest  he 
never  tried  to  influence  one  vote  nor  did  he  even  ask  any  member  or  Senator 
how  he  intended  to  vote.  "I  can  give  you  an  anecdote  in  point,"  pursued 
the  venerable  Governor  :  "About  a  week  before  the  House  voted,  a  Demo- 
cratic member  from  Ohio  went  to  the  White  House  and  recommended  an 
appointment  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  death.  'Very  well,'  said  the  Gen- 
eral, *I  will  appoint  him  to-morrow.'  The  member  then  said  :  'General,  I 
feel  it  my  duty  to  tell  you  that  I  must  vote  for  the  re-charter  of  the  Bank.' 
"  'I  can't  help  that,  sir.  But  I  already  knew  it.  See  here  —  I  can 
take  a  roll  of  the  House  and  check  off  every  Democrat  who  will  vote  for  the 
Bank.     In  fact,  I  have  one  here'  (producing  a  roll  with  the  names  checked 

off). 

"  The  member  looked  it  over  and,  pointing  to  one  name,  told  the  General 
he  was  mistaken  about  that  man. 

"  'How  do  you  know?' 

"  '  Because  he  has  told  me  that  his  constituents  have  sent  him  so  many 
letters  and  petitions  that  he  has  made  up  his  mind  to  vote  against  the  bill.' 

"  'He  is  a  lucky  fellow,'  said  Jackson,  'to  get  the  views  of  his  constituents 
in  that  way  beforehand.  There  are  some  other  Bank  Democrats  in  the 
House  who  will  not  receive  similar  information  until  next  fall,  I  fear.' 
(Meaning,  of  course,  when  they  confronted  their  constituents.) 

"As  it  turned  out,  several  of  the  Bank  Democrats  failed  of  renomination 
and  two  or  three  were  defeated  at  the  polls  by  anti-Bank  Democrats,  who 
were  able  to  beat  both  them  and  the  regular  opposition  candidate  in  a 
three-cornered  contest.  In  this  particular  case  the  General  was  mistaken. 
The  member  referred  to  did  vote  against  the  bill  and  was  returned  the  next 
fall  by  a  greatly  increased  majority.  The  General  then  wrote  him  a  con- 
gratulatory letter." 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  261 

of  the  Executive's  friends  in  Congress  were  con- 
cerned   .     .     ." 

The  italics  are  ours.  Dr.  Wilson  is  right,  so  far  as 
his  declaration  applies  to  officers  of  the  executive 
branch  proper ;  or,  in  other  words,  officers  appointed 
by  the  President.  General  Jackson  did  exact  from  them 
a  personal  fealty  and  a  concurrence  with  his  executive 
policy  as  such  which,  from  some  points  of  view,  might 
appear  almost  military  in  its  stringency.  But  his  rea- 
sons for  this  were  far  from  those  which  might  actuate 
an  autocrat  by  nature  or  by  heredity.  He  held  the  the- 
ory that  he,  and  he  alone,  was  responsible  to  the  people 
who  elected  him.  He  also  believed,  with  decD  and  sensi- 
tive  conscientiousness,  that,  though  he  might  delegate 
to  appointees  some  of  the  power  the  people  had  placed 
in  his  hands,  he  could  not  equally  transfer  from  his 
own  shoulders  to  theirs  a  particle  of  the  personal  re- 
sponsibility the  people  had  imposed  upon  him. 

It  was  this  keen  sense  acting  upon  his  high-strung 
notions  of  personal  honor  that  led  him  to  view  as  an 
outrage  upon  himself  any  dereliction  on  the  part  of  an 
official  whom  he  had  appointed.  It  was  hard  to  shake 
his  trust  in  a  man  who  had  once  won  his  confidence; 
but  when  the  evidence  became  conclusive,  that  man  was 
invariably  relegated  to  the  list  of  his  enemies,  and  he 
always  hated  him  with  an  intensity  in  exact  ratio  to  the 
faith  previously  reposed.  Such  a  trait,  we  think,  is 
hardly  to  be  viewed  as  the  mere  instinct  of  an  autocrat 
or  the  impulse  of  a  tyrant.  On  the  other  hand,  w^hen 
considered  in  connection  with  General  Jackson's  uni- 
versally admitted  probity  and  inflexible  honesty  of  mo- 
tive and  of  act,  it  becomes  creditable,  if  not  necessarily 


262     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

admirable.  His  object  in  enforcing  what  Dr.  Wilson 
calls  personal  discipline  was  not  to  enhance  his  own 
powers  or  to  promote  his  own  fortunes,  but  to  imbue 
those  he  trusted  with  the  sense  of  honor  and  of  con- 
scientious responsibility  to  the  public  which  was  his 
own  invariable  law  of  action.  But  this  condition  he 
held  as  applying  to  his  own  appointees  alone. 

W^ith  regard  to  Senators  and  members  of  the  House, 
his  theory  was  entirely  different.  He  held  that  Senators 
were  directly  responsible  to  the  States  and  Representa- 
tives to  the  constituencies  that  chose  them,  in  the  same 
w^ay  and  to  the  same  degree  that  measured  his  own 
responsibility.  This  was  his  theory  as  to  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  term  "co-ordination"  between  branches  of  the 
government,  and  it  seems  a  tenable  one.  It  is  true  that 
States  and  constituencies  which  supported  him  often 
punished  Senators  and  Representatives  who  opposed  him 
by  defeating  them  at  the  first  opportunity.  But  there 
never  was  an  authenticated  instance  of  his  own  partici- 
pation in  such  punitive  methods.  Even  when  the  Ten- 
nessee "machine"  punished  Senator  Hugh  White  for 
thwarting  him,  as  has  been  described,  the  act  was 
neither  counselled  nor  aided  by  him.  To  those  who  sug- 
gested that  it  was  in  his  power  to  restrain  the  managers 
of  the  "machine" — Carroll  and  Lewis — from  punishing 
Senator  White  by  defeating  him,  he  always  retorted  that 
he  had  no  more  right  of  dictation  to  Carroll  and  Lewis 
than  to  White,  even  if  his  own  State  did  happen  to  be 
the  scene  of  operations.  If,  as  Dr.  Wilson  observes, 
this  was  "personal  government,"  it  seems  to  have  been 
an  expression  of  that  system  easily  susceptible  of  valid 
defence  from  all  points  of  view  and  of  positive  popular 


UNION    AND    NULLIFICATION  263 

approbation  from  many.  That  a  man  of  sinister  ambi- 
tion might  have  turned  to  destructive  effect  the  marvel- 
lous ascendancy  General  Jackson  held  over  the  minds 
and  fancies  of  the  people,  goes  without  saying.  But  he 
was  the  exact  antipodes  of  that  character,  and  even  the 
mistakes  he  made  grew  out  of  honest  zeal  for  the  public 
welfare. 


CHAPTER   X 

RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY 

While  the  Bank  bill  was  still  under  debate  in  the 
Senate,  the  second  national  convention  of  a  political  party 
met  in  Baltimore  to  renominate  Andrew  Jackson  for 
President  and  Martin  Van  Buren  for  Vice-President, 
as  the  candidates  of  the  Democracy.  This  occurred 
the  2 1st  of  May.  The  convention  contented  itself  with 
the  nomination  of  candidates,  and  issued  no  ''address 
to  the  people" — or  what  would  now  be  termed  a  ''plat- 
form." Isaac  Hill  says  that  this  omission  was  in  defer- 
ence to  the  wishes  of  General  Jackson  himself,  v/ho  had 
authorized  Benton  to  say,  if  necessary,  that  "if  the  people 
had  not  got  acquainted  with  Jackson  by  this  time,  an 
address  describing  him  and  formulating  his  principles 
could  not  help  them."  However,  it  was  not  necessary 
for  Benton  to  say  anything.  The  convention  and  the 
people  considered  Jackson's  name  a  sufficient  platform 
w'ithout  comment. 

The  act  to  re-charter  the  Bank  was  placed  before  the 

President,   the  4th   of   July,    1832.      He   held   it   under 

review  six  days,  and  on  the  loth  returned  it  to  Congress 

without   approval   and   with   his   objections.      The   veto 

message  w^as  one  of  the  longest  ever  sent  to  Congress 

by  any   President.      It  reviewed   the  Bank   from   every 

point  of  contemplation.     It  had  been  "blocked  out"  and, 

to  a  great  extent,  written  in  final  form  before  the  bill 

264 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    265 

reached  the  President  in  enrolled  official  form.  Its  sub- 
stance had  been  prepared  by  the  President  in  sections 
and  paragraphs.  Its  law-points  were  studied  by  Attor- 
ney-General Taney  and  Edward  Livingston.  Its  finan- 
cial theories  were  scrutinized  by  Louis  McLane,  himself 
at  heart  a  Bank  man.  Questions  as  to  its  public  expedi- 
ency, apart  from  constitutional  and  technical  considera- 
tions, were  in  the  phraseology  of  the  President  himself. 
As  a  whole,  it  may  be  described  as  the  joint  product  of 
the  minds  of  Jackson,  Benton,  Livirigston  and  Taney, 
grouped  into  literary  symmetry  by  Wilham  B.  Lewis, 
Francis  P.  Blair  and  Amos  Kendall — than  whom  three 
cleverer  writers  were  not  to  be  found.  It  was  a  docu- 
ment not  only  for  its  own  time  and  place,  but  for  all 
history.  It  not  only  stated  the  President's  objections 
to  the  bill  before  him,  but  it  crystallized  for  all  time  all 
arguments  that  could  be  offered  against  lending  the  fiscal 
power  and  resources  of  the  United  States  to  the  use 
and  behoof  of  any  chartered  monopoly  whatsoever.  Its 
tone  was  moderate,  its  temper  unruffled,  its  style  lofty, 
its  diction  clear,  dignified  and  forceful. 

Both  sides  hailed  it  with  delight.  The  partisans  of 
General  Jackson  considered  it  as  having  determined  the 
verdict  of  the  people  in  their  favor  beforehand.  The 
partisans  of  the  Bank — not  only  the  fiery  and  sanguine 
Clay  and  the  resolute  and  combative  Biddle,  but  even 
the  cautious  and  ponderous  Webster — viewed  it  as  the 
hari-kari  of  Jackson  and  everything  Jacksonian. 

Strange — is  it  not? — how  widely  the  wisest  of  men  can 
disagree!  From  the  loth  to  the  i6th  of  July  this  mes- 
sage was  debated  by  both  houses  of  Congress  in  almost 
continuous  session.      In  the   House  of   Representatives 


266     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

the  pro-Bank  cohorts  were  led  by  that  consummate  "old 
master,"  John  Quincy  Adams.  The  anti-Bank  minority 
in  that  body  was  not  so  fortunate.  They  had  no  leader 
of  towering  stature,  such  as  Mr.  Adams  was.  Such 
men  of  mental  middle-weight  as  they  did  have  cut  little 
figure  in  the  arena  where  they  were  so  palpably  out- 
classed. But  in  the  Senate  there  was  a  nearer  approach 
to  fair  play.  True,  the  pro-Bank  legion  there  could  put 
forward  such  giants  of  forensic  joust  as  Webster  and 
Clay.  But  on  the  other  side  was  Benton — not  so  pro- 
found as  Webster  or  so  ''magnetic"  as  Clay,  perhaps, 
but  yet  a  veritable  Titan  whose  physical  endurance  was 
as  exhaustless  as  his  intellectual  resource;  always  ready, 
not  to  be  taken  aback,  seldom  staggered,  and  never 
thrown  down.  And  close  in  support  of  Benton's  heavy 
artillery  were  the  sleepless  vigilance,  the  unerring  satire 
and  the  biting  wit  of  sardonic  Isaac  Hill,  on  the  skirmish- 
line.* 

Toward  the  end  of  the  debate  a  fierce  altercation  oc- 
curred between  Clay  and  Benton,  which  only  the  most 
energetic  interference  of  nearly  the  whole  Senate  pre- 
vented from  resulting  in  bloodshed.  Clay  injected  into 
the  debate  a  campaign  story  of  1828,  which  represented 
Benton  to  have  said  in  the  campaign  of  1824  that  ''if 
Jackson  were  elected,  Senators  would  have  to  legislate 
with  pistols  and  dirks  by  their  sides."     Benton  had  de- 

*  "This  is  a  queer  tilt,"  Senator  Hill  wrote  to  /lis  friend  Mr.  Green,  of 
Boston,  in  the  midst  of  the  debate;  "with  Benton  and  Clay  boxing  like  two 
heavy-weight  ring-champions,  and  Webster  holding  bucket  and  sponge  in 
Clay's  corner!"  (Mr.  Hill  had  evidently  either  been  at  the  old  "Boston 
Corner"  ring-side,  or  had  read  the  pugilistic  descriptions  of  competent  sport- 
ing reporters.)  "Or,  to  change  the  simile,  one  might  fancy  Benton  the  in- 
vincible windmill,  with  Webster  and  Clay  in  full  tilt  against  it — if  one  could 
only  resolve  the  perplexing  doubt  as  to  which  is  which — the  redoubted  Don 
or  the  devoted  Esquire — which  Quixote  and  which  Panza!" 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    267 

nounced  this  statement  when  it  first  appeared,  in  1828, 
as  utterly  false  and  malicious.  He  now  applied  the  same 
terms  to  Clay's  motive  and  act  in  bringing  it  into  the 
Senate.     Clay  retorted  in  effect  with  "You're  another!" 

Finally,  when  order  was  restored,  Benton  said:  *T 
apologize  to  the  Senate  for  the  manner  in  which  I  have 
spoken,  but  not  to  the  Senator  from  Kentucky!" 

Clay  retorted :  ''To  the  Senate  I  offer  apology.  To 
the  Senator  from  Missouri,  none!" 

This  scene  occurred  in  the  session  of  July  14th.  On 
the  same  day,  and  nearly  at  the  same  hour — by  a  most 
marvellous  coincidence — Drs.  Harris,  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Triplett,  of  Virginia,  extracted  from  the  President's 
body  the  bullet  Benton  had  sent  there  nineteen  years 
before.  It  was  a  simple  operation.  The  ball  was  em- 
bedded close  to  the  left  edge  of  the  shoulder-blade  and 
near  the  surface.  By  means  of  a  small  incision  it  was 
exposed  to  the  forceps  and  easily  removed.  It  had  been 
but  little  deformed  by  its  ''tour  de  force"  through  the 
bones  of  Jackson's  left  arm  and  shoulder.  It  was  a  half- 
ounce  ball,  and  quite  covered  with  cyst.  In  a  few  mo- 
ments the  wound  was  dressed,  the  General  was  smoking 
his  pipe,  and  Dr.  Harris  brought  the  bullet  to  him 
stripped  of  the  cyst  and  cleaned.  The  General  took  it 
in  his  hand  and  surveyed  it  with  interest.  Just  then 
Mr.  Blair  entered  the  room.  The  President  handed  the 
bullet  to  him  with  the  remark :  "Don't  you  think,  Blair, 
we  ought  to  give  this  back  to  Benton?  It  belongs  to 
him!" 

Mr.  Blair,  entering  into  the  General's  grim  pleasantry, 
volunteered  to  mention  the  subject  to  Senator  Benton. 

"Very  well,"  said  Jackson,  "the  first  time  you  see  him, 


268     HISTORY   OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

tell  him,  with  my  compliments,  that  I  have  kept  his  lead 
long  enough,  and  it  is  now  at  his  service.  I  have  no 
further  use  for  it!" 

Mr.  Blair  carried  out  the  joke.  Meeting  Benton  the 
same  evening,  he  related  what  had  passed  and  formally 
tendered  to  him  the  bullet.  Benton  looked  at  it,  but 
did  not  accept  it. 

"No,  Blair,"  he  said,  with  an  air  of  mock  solemnity; 
"please  give  General  Jackson  my  compliments,  and  say 
that  I  decline  to  receive  the  bullet.  It  is  his  property. 
It  may  have  been  mine  at  one  time,  but  he  has  now 
acquired  clear  title  to  it  at  common  law — by  twenty 
years'  peaceable  possession!" 

"Only  nineteen  years,"  suggested  Mr.  Blair. 

"Oh,  well,"  retorted  Benton,  "in  consideration  of  the 
extra  care  he  has  taken  of  it — keeping  it  constantly  about 
his  person,  and  so  on — I'll  waive  the  odd  year!" 

Mr.  Blair  reported  all  this  faithfully  to  General  Jack- 
son, who  smiled  rather  grimly  and  remarked :  "Then  I 
reckon  I  may  as  well  keep  it.  It  might  come  handy  some 
time.     Benton  was  a  great  rascal  in  his  young  days — a 

grand  rascal,  sir !    But  he  is  getting  to  be  a  d d  good 

old  man." 

Not  the  least  astonishing  part  of  this  coincidence  was 
the  fact  that  the  quarrel  between  Benton  and  Clay  in 
the  Senate  that  same  day  was  brought  on  by  an  allusion 
of  the  latter  to  the  brawl  at  Nashville  in  1813,  when 
Jackson  received  that  bullet  from  Benton's  pistol. 

Soon  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  General  Jack- 
son determined  to  go  home  and  rest  at  the  Hermitage 
until  after  election — a  period  of  about  three  months.     He 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    269 

was  impelled  by  his  own  illness  and  by  the  rapid  ad- 
vance of  the  cholera  epidemic  of  1832  toward  Wash- 
ington. His  physicians  assured  him  that  if  the  scourge 
should  attack  him  in  his  enfeebled  and  debilitated  con- 
dition, it  would  prove  certainly  fatal.  But  so  many  little 
things  occurred  to  detain  him  from  day  to  day  that  the 
9th  of  August  arrived  before  he  could  set  out.  He  was 
accompanied  by  Francis  P.  Blair,  Mr.  Blair's  young  son 
Montgomery,  then  a  cadet  at  West  Point ;  Amos  Kendall, 
who  was  going  only  as  far  as  Louisville;  Isaac  Hill, 
going  for  a  brief  "missionary  tour"  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Ohio ;  General  Cass,  Secretary  of  War ;  Major 
Lewis,  and  Nicholas  P.  Trist,  his  private  secretary. 
Major  Donelson  remained  at  the  White  House,  to  look 
after  the  correspondence,  but  Mrs.  Emily  Donelson  ac- 
companied the  President — as  he  was  wont  to  say,  *'to 
keep  her  old  uncle's  stockings  darned  and  the  old  uncle 
himself  out  of  mischief." 

The  political  campaign — except  in  the  columns  of  the 
newspapers  and  the  pages  of  pamphlets — dragged  some- 
what for  a  month  or  two  after  Congress  adjourned. 
The  Whigs — or  the  "Bankites,"  as  the  Democrats  usu- 
ally called  them — had  their  usual  vast  preponderance  of 
printer's  ink;  and  in  this  campaign,  as  distinguished 
from  that  of  1828,  they  had  a  large  re-enforcement  in 
James  Watson  Webb's  New  York  Courier  and  En- 
quirer— then,  beyond  question,  the  leading  newspaper  of 
the  country.  East  of  the  mountains  and  north  of  the 
Potomac  the  Jackson  Democracy  had  but  three  papers 
of  national  repute—Mr.  Blair's  Washington  Globe,  Mr. 
Van  Buren's  organ,  the  Albany  Argus,  and  Isaac  Hill's 
New  Hampshire  Patriot.     West  of  the  mountains  and 


270     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

in  the  South,  the  preponderance  may  have  been  the  other 
way ;  but,  excepting  two  Richmond  papers  and  Jackson's 
home  organ  at  Nashville,  none  of  them  was  of  any  con- 
siderable note.  In  the  matter  of  pamphlets  and  printed 
speeches,  the  Bankites  had  even  a  greater  excess  of 
apparent  strength. 

In  short,  if  the  tendency  of  the  canvass  were  to  be 
judged  from  the  literary  viewpoint,  the  Clay  ticket  was 
as  good  as  elected  before  General  Jackson  reached  home. 
But  that  contest  was  not  to  be  decided  by  printer's  ink. 
Between  1824  and  1832,  either  by  new  constitutions  or 
by  amendments  to  old  ones,  a  great  mass  of  new  voters 
had  been  enfranchised  in  several  States,  and  some  of 
these  were — or  had  been — debatable.  A  great  majority 
of  these  new  voters  were  men  who  did  not  read  news- 
papers much,  or  who,  to  say  the  least,  were  not  very 
susceptible  to  editorial  influence.  They  were  mainly  of 
that  humble  and  hardworking  class  whom  the  Clay  and 
Bank  organs  derisively  dubbed  "The  Great  Unwashed"; 
the  hoi  polloi  of  farm,  forest  and  prairie,  who  cared  to 
read  little  else  than  an  electoral  ticket  and,  as  a  rule, 
wanted  that  ticket  to  have  the  name  of  Jackson  printed 
on  it. 

The  General  knew  this  fact.  Messrs.  Clay,  Webster 
and  Biddle  seemed  oblivious  of  it.  The  result  was,  that 
while  General  Jackson  journeyed  to  his  home  in  Tennes- 
see and  stayed  there  two  months  in  blissful  indifference 
to  the  clamor  of  the  Northeast,  his  adversaries  were 
writing  congratulatory  epistles  to  each  other,  speculating 
as  to  the  extent  of  the  electoral  majority  that  would  be 
returned  for  Clay  and  the  Bank. 

Before  long  the  sporting  fraternity  began  to  share  the 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    271 

confidence  proclaimed  by  the  Bankites.  We  have  al- 
ready expressed  a  surmise  that  Isaac  Hill,  notwithstand- 
ing his  Puritan  ancestry  and  his  residence  in  a  staid  State 
of  steady  habits  like  New  Hampshire,  had  some  ''game 
blood"  in  his  veins.  Returning  from  his  "missionary 
tour"  in  the  West,  we  find  him,  on  October  8th,  writing 
to  a  friend  *  of  gambling  proclivities : 

You  need  not  let  the  Bank  braggarts  bully  you.  Take  all  you 
can  get  on  New  York,  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio  for  Jackson. 
Don't  bet  on  stated  majorities,  but  just  hang  on  to  the  general 
result.  Of  course  I  can't  let  it  be  known  that  I  am  on  the 
turf  myself;  but  C.  F.  [meaning  Charles  Fisk]  of  New  York 
has  some  little  things  placed  for  me.  B.  [meaning  Benton] 
and  his  friends  out  West  are  picking  up  all  ofi'ers  in  that 
quarter.  H.  [meaning  Mr.  Van  Buren's  friend,  Jesse  Hoyt] 
is  loaded  to  the  muzzle  on  New  York  for  Jackson  and  also  for 
Marcy.     I  venture  he  has  forty  thousand  up  this  minute. 

You  ask  me  how  the  O.  M.  [meaning  the  "Old  Man,"  a  name 
they  had  for  Jackson  in  their  private  circles]  feels  about  it. 
I'll  tell  you.  I  left  him  at  Wheeling  and  the  last  words  he 
said  to  me  as  I  got  off  the  boat  were :  "Isaac,  it'll  be  a  walk ! 
If  our  fellers  didn't  raise  a  finger  from  now  on,  the  thing 
would  be  done  just  as  well.    In  fact,  Isaac,  it's  done  now !" 

The  O.  M.  makes  some  deep  calculations  and  takes  some 
long  chances,  but  he  isn't  apt  to  come  out  on  the  under  side. 
You  may  take  a  fiver  with  ciphers  to  it  [meaning,  probably, 
$500]  even  on  each  of  New  York,  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  for 
my  account  and  draw  if  you  need  the  cash.  I  am  figuring  for 
myself  on  N.  H.— through  friends,  of  course.  Don't  be  weak ! 
Take  everything  in  sight  on  the  lines  I  have  given  you.  The 
Bank's  men  are  betting  the  Bank's  money.     Verb.  sap. 

Mackenzie,  the  compiler  of  John  Van  Buren's  racy 
Correspondence,  figures  that  Jesse  Hoyt  won  $60,000 

*  Thomas  Green,  of  Boston  and  New  York. 


272      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

on  Jackson  in  1832.  and  Tom  Green — Hill's  friend — 
about  $50,000.  How  much  of  it  may  have  found  its 
way,  circuitously,  into  the  Puritanical  pocket  of  Isaac 
Hill,  we  are  not  informed. 

This  letter  gives  more  graphically  than  a  set  descrip- 
tion could  do  the  inside  history  of  that  campaign  as 
viewed  in  the  light  of  the  confidence  held  by  Jackson 
and  his  friends.  Meantime  the  uproar  continued — every- 
where but  at  the  Hermitage.  There  all  was  serene  until 
about  the  ist  of  October.  Then  the  old  warrior's  repose 
was  rudely  broken,  not  by  the  crash  of  political  battle, 
but  by  ill-omened  mutterings  and  mumblings  from  the 
State  of  the  Palmetto  and  John  C.  Calhoun. 

When  General  Jackson  left  Washington,  the  9th  of 
August,  he  intended  to  stay  in  Tennessee  until  after  the 
election.  His  return  was  hastened  by  the  threatening 
aspect  of  affairs  in  South  Carolina.  One  day — the  2d 
of  October — a  party  of  his  old  army  friends  rode  out 
to  the  Hermitage.  They  were  William  Carroll,  gov- 
ernor of  Tennessee ;  John  Coffee,  surveyor-general  of 
Alabama,  and  William  O.  Butler,  then  a  leading  lawyer 
of  Kentucky,  who  was  in  Nashville  on  professional  busi- 
ness in  the  United  States  district  court  sitting  there. 
They  were  accompanied  by  David  Buell,  who  was  on 
his  way  to  begin  a  survey  for  improvement  of  naviga- 
tion in  the  Tennessee  River. 

They  found  the  General  much  excited.  He  had  just 
heard  bad  news  from  South  Carolina — that  the  legisla- 
ture of  that  State  had  passed  a  joint  resolution  calling 
and  authorizing  a  State  convention,  to  meet  November 
19th,  for  the  purpose  of  considering  a  plan  of  resistance 
to  the  collection  of  customs  under  the  act  approved  in 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    273 

June,  1832,  commonly  known  to  legislative  history  as 
''the  Clay  Tariff."  They  were  all  a  little  surprised  when 
he  said,  in  his  greeting :  "Gentlemen,  nothing  could  please 
me  so  much  just  at  this  moment  as  to  see  with  me  four 
of  my  old  bull-tarriers  of  New  Orleans !"  Then,  turning 
to  Butler,  he  said :  ''William,  I'm  sorry  that  Adair  is 
not  here  with  you.  Though  he  hasn't  liked  me  very 
well  of  late  years,  I'm  sure  he  would  be  with  me  in  the 
crisis  I  fear  is  close  at  hand."  * 

Without  waiting  for  inquiry,  he  told  them  that  a 
special  agent  had  just  come  from  South  Carolina  with 
news  that  the  whole  State  was  in  such  a  ferment  as  had 
never  before  been  seen,  about  the  new  tariff,  and  that 
its  people  seemed  almost  unanimous  for  Nullification. 
He  also  said  that  he  had  two  letters  from  Charleston — 
the  authors  of  which  he  did  not  mention — informing 
him  that  the  very  best  citizens  of  the  State  were  ready 
to  go  to  any  extremes  in  resistance  to  the  collection 
of  the  duties  imposed  by  the  new  law.  Having  stated 
these  facts,  he  pursued : 

"Gentlemen,  I  never  until  now  believed  that  Calhoun 

*  General  Adair — a  South  Carolinian  by  birth — was  a  member  of  Con- 
gress from  Kentucky  at  that  time  and  chairman  of  the  Military  Committee 
of  the  House.  He  had  supported  Jackson  as  against  Adams  in  1828;  but 
in  1832  he  did  not  desire  to  oppose  Clay.  He  therefore  declined  a  renomi- 
nation  to  Congress  in  1832,  giving  as  principal  reasons  his  age — seventy -three 
years — and  the  fact  that  the  AVashington  climate  did  not  agree  with  him. 
When  he  reached  Washington  early  in  December,  1832,  to  attend  the  short 
session,  Jackson,  instead  of  inviting  him  to  come  to  the  White  House,  as 
Presidents  usually  do,  called  upon  the  veteran  at  his  hotel  and  had  a  long 
talk  with  him  about  Calhoun  and  South  Carolina.  What  passed  between 
them  was  never  known,  but  Jackson  appeared  satisfied  with  the  interview. 
Soon  afterward  he  remarked:  "If  there  is  any  trouble  down  there  [meaning 
in  South  Carolina]  I'll  have  with  me  my  old  army  of  New  Orleans — every 
man  and  every  General!" — Reminiscence  of  Mr.  Blair. 
Vol.  II.— 18 


274     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

could  poison  the  minds  and  pervert  the  souls  of  that 
gallant  people.  But  now  I  see  he  has  done  it.  Of  course 
I  shall  he  re-elected!  It  will  be  my  duty,  if  God  spares 
my  life,  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  pre- 
serve our  Federal  Union  as  if  is  until  the  4th  of  March, 
1837 — ^more  than  four  years  hence.  I  may  have  to  call 
on  my  old  army  of  New  Orleans  to  stand  by  me!  They 
stood  by  me  once  when  the  country  was  in  danger,  and 
I  know  they  will  do  it  again!" 

''But,  General,  do  you  really  believe  the  situation  can 
become  so  grave  as  that?"  asked  Governor  Carroll. 

"I  hope  not,  but  I  fear  it  may." 

"What,  then,  would  be  your  course?" 

"Suppress  the  rebellion,  sir;  root  out  the  treason,  sir, 
with  ruthless  hand !  Assemble  a  force  sufficient  to  crush 
any  uprising  at  any  point;  assume,  as  constitutional 
commander-in-chief,  the  immediate  command  and  take 
the  field  in  person,  sir!  Hang  every  leader  and  every 
false  counsellor  of  that  infatuated  people,  sir,  by  martial 
law,  irrespective  of  his  name,  or  political  or  social  posi- 
tion— the  higher  the  worse!  Sir,  I  shall  not  only  crush 
them  by  land,  but  I  will  station  the  navy  to  prevent 
their  escape!" 

"But,  General,  some  of  the  officers  of  the  army  and 
navy  are  of  South  Carolina.  Such  might  refuse  to  oper- 
ate against  their  own  State " 

"Such,  sir,  if  such  there  should  be,  I  will  hang  with 
my  own  hands;  without  court-martial  or  benefit  of 
clergy!     Yes,  sir;  with  my  own  hands,  sir!" 

Seeing  that  the  old  warrior  was  getting  highly  ex- 
cited. General  Coffee  tried  to  divert  his  mind  to  other 
topics.  But  he  would  not  be  diverted,  and  he  fiercely 
pursued : 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    275 

''Nothing,  gentlemen,  could  chagrin  and  pain  me  so 
much  as  to  see  that  foolish  people  make  Webster  out  a 
prophet!  To  see  them  make  his  words  in  the  debate 
with  Hayne  come  true!  Of  course,  they  are  crazy- 
crazed  by  Calhoun!  But  it  is  a  dangerous  lunacy!  No 
cure  for  it,  I  fear,  but  cold  lead  or  hemp!" 

At  this,  one  of  the  party  suggested  that  probably  a 
firm  front  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Government  would 
overawe  them,  and  if  once  they  halted  for  second  thought 
the  crisis  would  resolve  itself. 

''God  grant  it!  God  knows,  I  hope  so.  But  I  fear 
that  they  will  plunge  ahead  blindly.  For  my  part,  I 
declare  that  I  will  enforce  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
if  I  should  have  to  depopulate  the  State  of  traitors  and 
repeople  it  with  a  better  and  wiser  race!" 

With  this,  said  the  narrator,  the  old  General  cooled 
down  a  little  and,  with  the  aid  of  a  timely  mint-julep 
or  two,  resumed  his  wonted  composure.  But  during 
the  visit,  which  lasted  most  of  the  afternoon,  he  was 
ill  at  ease  and  gloomy. 

These  were  indeed  harsh,  savage  words.     Spoken  by 
the  average  man  to  four  other  average  men,  they  might 
have  been  viewed  as  the  vainglory  of  the  swashbuckler. 
But,  addressed  by  Andrew  Jackson  to  four  men  who  had 
stood  behind  that   'low   log  breastwork,"   among  that 
"backwoods  rabble"  that  "laid  low  the  Pride  of  Eng- 
land," they  meant  all  that  words  could  mean.     When  a 
man  has  done  things,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  he  will 
do  them  again.     At  any  rate,  it  is  never  safe  to  take 
chances  on  the  assumption  that  he  will  not  do  them 
again.     Jackson  had  hanged  men  and  he  had  shot  men. 
So,  when  roused  once  more  by  a  crisis,  graver  even  than 


276     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

any  he  had  ever  faced  before,  his  talk  of  hanging  more 
men  was  something  to  be  viewed  as  seriously  as  anything 
can  be. 

It  was  not  likely  that  the  man  who,  when  only  a 
major-general,  had  executed  eleven  men  by  the  rope  or 
by  musketry,  and  all  on  his  own  responsibility,  would 
halt  or  hesitate  in  another  emergency  of  duty  when  he 
had  in  his  hands  the  tremendous  power  of  the  presidency, 
and  re-elected,  as  he  was  a  month  later,  by  an  electoral 
vote  of  219  to  49 — more  than  a  four-fifths  majority, 
and  by  a  popular  majority  of  most  decisive  figure.  Bear 
in  mind,  too,  that  the  emergency  was  not  merely  that 
of  a  rebellion  against  the  laws  he  was  sworn  to  enforce, 
but  a  rebellion  fomented  and  led  by  a  man  he  hated 
more  than  he  did  any  other  man  then  living — and  he 
himself  one  of  the  bitterest  haters  that  ever  lived. 

When  due  weight  is  accorded  to  all  these  facts,  it 
would  be  a  long  stretch  of  charity  to  assume  that  Jack- 
son's proposal  to  do  some  wholesale  hanging  in  South 
Carolina,  in  certain  contingencies  then  imminent,  was  in 
any  sense  Pickwickian  or  for  dramatic  effect.  It  is  a 
mercy  to  American  history  that  his  ferocious  spirit  was 
not  driven  to  the  bitter  end  of  making  his  grewsome 
words  good.  For,  if  he  had  been  so  driven,  with  one 
little  State  under  his  feet  and  the  solid  Union  at  his 
back,  it  were  a  foregone  conclusion  that  he  would  have 
made  the  words  "South  Carolina"  blots  of  horror  upon 
the  history  of  mankind. 

It  is  worth  while  to  note  one  sentence  in  this  remark- 
able interview:  ''Of  course  I  shall  he  re-elected f  The 
words  were  spoken  Tuesday,  the  2d  of  October,  more 
than  a  month  before  the  general  election.     They  showed, 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    277 

by  their  utter  carelessness,  the  supreme,  subHme  confi- 
dence Jackson  had  in  his  own  destiny  when  he  was  ''in 
the  hands  of  the  people."  The  pending  canvass  did  not 
trouble  him.  He  seemed  to  ignore  it  altogether.  The 
only  thought  that  gave  him  concern  was  that  "it  would 
be  his  duty  to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  United  States  until 
the  4th  of  March,  1837." 

Leaving  the  Hermitage,  October  6th,  the  President 
was  in  the  White  House,  ready  for  business,  on  the 
iQtli.  They  were  beginning  to  annihilate  space  in  those 
days.  Thirteen  days  between  Nashville  and  Washing- 
ton without  undue  hurry  was  really  rapid  transit  in  the 
autumn  of  1832. 

Arrived  at  the  Capital,  he  set  himself  singly  at  the 
task  of  heading  off  treason  in  South  Carolina.  He  was 
impatient  at  the  demands  of  any  other  executive  duties. 
For  the  political  campaign,  then  nearing  its  close,  he 
seemed  to  care  nothing.  To  him,  its  result  was  a  fore- 
gone conclusion.  Mr.  Blair,  who  returned  with  him, 
relates  that  one  day,  about  the  end  of  October,  he  went 
to  the  White  House  to  lay  before  him  some  important 
and  gratifying  private  news  of  the  campaign.  He  took 
the  letters  in  his  hand,  glanced  over  them  hastily,  handed 
them  back  to  Mr.  Blair  with  a  simple  'Thank  you,  sir," 
and  then  began  to  talk  about  South  Carolina.  Not  one 
word  about  the  canvass.  Not  one  thought  of  himself! 
Every  thought  of  the  duty  before  him ! 

"Never  before,"  said  Mr.  Blair,  "had  I  seen  him  so 
utterly  absorbed  in  a  single  subject  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  else.  The  lines  of  his  face  were  hard  drawn,  his 
tones  were  full  of  wrath  and  resentment  which  he  made 
no  effort  to  suppress.     Anyone  would  have  thought  he 


278      HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

was  planning  another  great  battle,  with  the  enemy's  out- 
posts in  plain  sight." 

At  the  time  to  which  Mr.  Blair  refers  here,  the  Gen- 
eral had  just  received  information  that  the  date  for  the 
Nullification  convention  had  been  fixed  for  the  19th  of 
November — only  three  weeks  in  the  future.  He  at  once 
sent  confidential  orders  to  the  collector  at  Charleston 
for  his  guidance  in  case  of  an  attempt  to  nullify  the 
laws  or  resist  the  collection  of  duties,  and  ordered  Gen- 
eral Scott  to  the  scene — not  with  express  military  in- 
tructions,  but  to  act  as  adviser  to  the  collector. 

A  little  after  this  time,  Samuel  Dale,  his  old  scout  in 
the  Creek  war  and  Louisiana  campaign,  visited  him  at 
the  White  House.  Dale  had  come  from  his  plantation 
in  Mississippi,  passing  through  South  Carolina  en  route. 
In  his  Memoir,  Dale  says  that  all  the  talk  was  about 
Nullification  and  Calhoun.  Dale  had  never  heard  him 
speak  so  savagely  of  any  man  as  he  spoke  of  Calhoun. 
''I  had  no  doubt,"  says  Dale,  ''that  he  was  prepared  to 
hang  Mr.  Calhoun  as  summarily  as  he  had  hanged  the 
prophet  Francis  or  the  chief  Himollomico,  on  any  decent 
pretext." 

In  another  passage,  Dale  says :  "The  iron  man  trem- 
bled with  emotion  and  covered  his  face  with  his  hands 
while  tears  dropped  upon  his  knees.  I  was  deeply  affect- 
ed myself.  He  took  two  or  three  turns  across  the  room 
and  then  abruptly  said:  "Dale,  they  are  trying  me  here; 
you  will  witness  it.  But,  by  the  God  of  Heaven,  I  will 
uphold  the  laws!" 

He  then  became  calm  and  gave  a  homely  illustration 
of  the  state  of  things  by  saying  that  "if  such  things  were 
allowed  to  go  on,  the  country  would  be  like  a  bag  of 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    279 

meal  with  both  ends  open — no  matter  how  you  picked 
up  the  bag,  by  either  end  or  by  the  middle,  the  meal 
would  all  run  out!"  He  proposed,  he  said,  to  tie  up 
the  ends. 

During  his  absorption  in  this  subject  he  was  taking 
a  walk  one  morning  and  met  little  Francis  P.  Blair,  Jr., 
then  a  lad  of  eleven  years.  Frank  had  a  suspicious  dis- 
coloration around  one  eye. 

''Hello.  Frank,"  exclaimed  the  President,  ''what's  the 
matter  with  your  eye?" 

"Oh,  nothing  much,  sir.  Only  just  a  little  trouble  I 
had  yesterday,  coming  home  from  school !" 

"Well,  Frank,  Fm  having  a  little  trouble  too!  But, 
as  you  can  see,  they  haven't  given  me  a  black  eye  yet !"  * 

The  election  returns  came  in  while  the  Nullification 
conclave  was  assembling  and  organizing.  Blair  and 
Kendall  prepared  a  table  showing  the  result  as  to  the 
electoral  vote — 219  to  49 — and  took  it  over  to  the  White 
House.  Jackson  surveyed  it  rather  indifferently  at  first, 
but  in  a  moment  brightened  up.  "The  best  thing  about 
this,  gentlemen,"  he  said,  w^ith  great  animation,  "is  that 
it  strengthens  my  hands  in  this  trouble!"  Not  another 
thought  in  his  brain.  A  four-fifths  majority  in  the  Elec- 
toral College  was  valuable  only  as  it  gave  new  strength 
to  his  hands  for  dealing  with  Nullification  and  treason. 

*  Little  Frank  Blair  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  President,  and  was  to 
be  found  at  the  White  House  as  often  as  at  home.  Twenty-nine  years  after- 
ward, when  as  General  Blair  he  was  in  command  at  St.  Louis  and  resisting 
the  efforts  of  Governor  Claiborne  F.  Jackson  to  take  Missouri  out  of  the 
Union,  he  remembered  the  incidents  of  Nullification.  "W'hat  a  difference 
there  is  in  Jacksons,"  he  said  one  day,  "and  how  quick  the  great  one  would 
string  up  the  little  one  if  he  were  in  my  place  row!  But  I  can't  do  it,  for 
several  reasons.  The  first  reason  is,  I  can't  catch  him.  The  others  are  not 
important." 


28o      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

But  after  all,  it  was  that  singleness  of  purpose,  that 
concentration  of  a  powerful  will  upon  one  great  point  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  else,  that  always  made  him  the  mas- 
ter and  the  commander  he  was. 

"He  offered  no  further  comment  on  the  result  of  the 
election,"  said  Mr.  Blair,  "except  to  ask  Kendall  and 
me  to  draw  up  for  him  a  close  analysis  of  the  popular 
vote  by  States  and  important  localities  as  soon  as  we 
could  get  the  necessary  official  data.  Tt's  the  popular 
vote  that's  the  thing  of  prime  importance,  gentlemen/  he 
said.  'I  want  to  know^  just  how  the  people  stand!  To 
them,  not  to  the  electors,  I  must  look  for  support  in  this 
trouble.'  Then  he  walked  up  and  down  the  floor,  act- 
ually wringing  his  hands  and,  talking  as  if  to  himself 
rather  than  to  us,  he  exclaimed :  'Oh,  poor  South  Caro- 
lina! Deluded  people!  And.  to  think  it  is  the  State 
that  raised  me!     Yes,  my  owm  native  State!'  " 

The  fact  was  that  the  popular  majority  in  1832  ran 
relatively  far  short  of  that  in  the  Electoral  College. 
Many  of  the  States  in  the  Jackson  column  had  been 
carried  for  him  by  small  majorities.  Most  of  the  few 
voting  for  Clay  had  gone  for  him  overwhelmingly.* 

Jackson  had  carried  sixteen  States.  But  in  the  most 
populous  ones — as  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia 
and  Ohio — his  popular  majorities  had  been  small  by  per- 

*  The  actual  popular  majority  for  Jackson  over  all  competitors — Clay,  the 
regular  nominee  of  the  Opposition  ;  Floyd,  for  whom  South  Carolina  cast 
her  electoral  vote  ;  and  William  Wirt,  the  "anti-Masonic"  candidate  who 
received  the  electoral  vote  of  Vermont — was  167,000  in  a  total  vote  of  1,100,- 
000  in  round  figures.  Over  Clay  alone  it  was  more  than  200,000.  There- 
fore, from  the  General's  own  point  of  view,  the  moral  effect  of  his  popular  ma- 
jority was  less  than  that  of  the  electoral.  Despite  the  vast  electoral  majority 
and  the  decisive  popular  majority  given  for  Jackson  himself,  and  the  fact 
that  he  had  carried  sixteen  States  out  of  twentv-four,  the  Senate  still  had  a 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    281 

centage  of  the  total.  Clay's  six  States  all  gave  him 
large  majorities  except  his  own  Kentucky,  which  Jack- 
son had  carried  in  1828.  South  Carolina  voted  for 
neither  Clay  nor  Jackson;  but,  as  if  to  accentuate  her 
contempt  for  the  Union  and  all  its  belongings,  she  threw 
her  electoral  votes  away  on  John  Floyd  and  Henry  Lee, 
who  were  never  formally  nominated. 

We  have  neither  space  nor  patience  to  discuss  in  these 
pages  the  doctrine  of  Nullification,  either  as  theoretically 
expounded  by  Mr.  Calhoun  in  his  labored  essays  or  as 
practically  applied  by  his  infatuated  disciples.  The  final 
verdict  upon  that  issue,  and  all  others  which  sprang 
from  it,  was  pronounced  at  Appomattox.  We  take  it 
for  granted  that  no  man  familiar  with  that  great  fact, 
certainly  none  who  witnessed  personally  the  delivery  of 
the  verdict  itself,  has  patience  to  debate — even  as  mat- 
ters of  history — the  theories  which  it  relegated  to  the 
tomb  of  dead  heresies;  of  heresies  that  perished,  not 
amid  the  echoes  of  the  forum,  but  in  the  carnage  of  the 
battle-field.  A  funeral  sermon  should  never  be  preached 
more  than  once. 

The  history  of  what  the  Nullifiers  actually  did  may 
be  quite  briefly  recorded.  Their  convention  met  at  Co- 
lumbia, November  19,  1832.  It  appointed  a  general 
committee  of  twenty-one  members  which  was  author- 
reliable  preponderance  in  favor  of  the  Bank.  In  the  House,  however,  the 
tables  had  been  turned.  Benton's  speeches,  Hill's  satires  and  the  Presi- 
dent's veto  message  had  begun  to  tell  on  the  people  by  the  time  the  polls 
opened  in  1832.  The  result  was  that  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the 
Twenty-third  Congress  for  the  first  time  in  the  struggle  had  an  out-and-out, 
thick-and-thin  Jackson  majority  and,  on  a  full  vote,  stood  about  130  for 
Jackson  to  no  for  the  Bank  on  any  policy  the  President  might  propose. 
This  was  a  great  gain  in  the  personal  sense  ;  but  legislatively  it  became 
powerless  by  reason  of  the  attitude  of  the  Senate. 


282      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

ized  to  draw  up  an  "ordinance"  of  Nullification.  This 
was  a  long  document.  Stripped  of  surplusage,  it  as- 
serted the  right  of  the  State  to  resist  the  collection  of 
Federal  taxes  and  the  further  right  to  withdraw  from 
the  Union  if  the  Federal  Government  should  use  force 
to  compel  observance  of  its  laws.  (Clause  V.,  Ordinance 
of  Nullification.)  And  it  designated  the  ist  day  of 
February,  1833,  as  the  date  at  which  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  prohibited  the  further  enforcement  of  Federal 
tariff  laws  within  its  territory.  Senator  Hayne  was 
elected  governor,  and  his  first  message  scintillated  with 
that  exuberant  rhetoric  which  afterward  became  a  dis- 
tinctive trait  of  political  literature  in  the  South,  but 
which,  however,  was  permanently  discontinued  about  the 
9th  of  April,  1865. 

To  the  promulgation  of  this. ordinance  Jackson  replied 
with  a  proclamation,  dated  December  11,  1832.  There 
was  a  period  in  the  history  of  this  country  when  that 
proclamation  should  have  been  printed  in  every  school- 
reader  or  handbook  of  American  eloquence — North, 
South,  East  and  West.  And,  though  the  express  occa- 
sion for  its  wide  dissemination  for  purely  educational 
purposes  is  past,  extracts  from  it  might  still  be  read  or 
declaimed  by  rising  generations  with  interest  and  profit 
as  classic  passages  of  pure  American  patriotism.  Its 
general  tenor  by  no  means  met  the  expectations  of  those 
who  had  heard  General  Jackson's  expressions  of  a  less 
public  character  on  the  same  subject.  It  contained  no 
threats,  and  even  its  admonitions  were  softened  into  en- 
treaty. Yet  there  was  all  through  it  a  distinct  undertone 
of  resolution  unmistakable  to  those  who  knew  the  man. 
It  really  gained  strength  in  substance  from  its  mildness 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    283 

of  form.  On  the  whole,  it  disappointed  Calhoun  and 
his  immediate  followers,  who  had  hoped — as  one  of  them 
frankly  said — that  Jackson  would  use  language  calcu- 
lated to  intensify  rather  than  allay  the  feeling  of  the 
people  in  South  Carolina.  The  North  and  West,  with- 
out distinction  of  party,  hailed  it  with  enthusiasm.  Al- 
most the  only  man  outside  of  Calhoun's  cabal  to  decry 
or  depreciate  it  was  Clay. 

"It  is  not  Jackson,"  he  said.  '*It  is  Van  Buren  and 
Livingston." 

Then  Clay  added  an  epigram  which  one  of  Jackson's 
biographers  repeats  without  quotation  marks :  "It  is  Fed- 
eralism using  the  language  of  the  Resolutions  of  '98; 
such  a  blending  of  creeds  as  Alexander  Hamilton  might 
have  written  for  Patrick  Henry!"   • 

Mr.  Clay,  however,  must  be  viewed  charitably  as  he 
stood  in  December,  1832.  He  was  still  counting  his  49 
electoral  votes  out  of  286  cast  for  all  the  candidates  and 
was  wondering  what  had  happened.  Had  he  been  capable 
of  an  impartial  judgment  upon  any  Jacksonian  thing  at 
such  a  moment,  he  must  have  been  more  than  human — 
certainly  a  great  deal  more  than  Henry  Clay. 

The  proclamation  w^as  followed  by  a  special  message 
to  Congress  requesting  more  explicit  provision  of  means 
for  enforcing  the  laws.  In  this  message,  though  it  did 
not  specify  the  cause  for  the  request,  was  an  admonition 
that  made  South  Carolina  pause — at  least  to  draw  one 
long  breath.  The  pause  continued.  Congress  passed  a 
joint  resolution  providing  the  necessary  means.  Mr. 
Potter,  alone  of  the  South  Carolina  delegation,  voted 
for  it  in  the  House.  Mr.  Clay  voted  for  it  in  the  Senate, 
but  with  the  ungracious  remark  that,  though  justifiable. 


284     HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

it  was  not  necessary;  because,  he  said,  existing  laws 
would  prove  ample  to  meet  any  emergency  that  could 
arise — if  calmly  and  prudently  administered — and  the 
effect  of  granting  additional  powers  or  means  could  be 
nothing  more  than  congressional  ratification  of  threats 
made  elsewhere. 

Howsoever  tame  or  mild  Jackson's  official  utterances 
may  have  been,  his  executive  preparations  were  not  quite 
so  gentle.  He  arranged  for  express  despatches  from 
South  Carolina  to  be  sent,  in  case  of  outbreak,  at  a 
speed  that  would  anticipate  regular  communication  by 
two  days.  He  had  also  provided,  upon  receipt  of  news  of 
actual  outbreak,  for  the  instant  arrest  of  Calhoun  on  the 
charge  of  treason.  He  was  prepared  to  declare  martial 
law  in  and  about  Charleston  the  moment  a  vessel  and 
cargo  of  dutiable  goods  should  be  seized  under  authority 
of  the  Nullification  ordinance.  And  upon  the  first  overt 
act  under  its  provisions  he  intended  to  outlaw^  every  man 
who  had  voted  for  it  or  who  took  any  part  in  its 
enforcement. 

In  some  way  knowledge  of  these  preparations  found 
its  way  to  Calhoun.  Governor  Allen  informed  the  author 
that  there  was  a  common  belief  that  Jackson,  if  he  did 
not  actually  aid  in  transmitting  this  knowledge  to  Cal- 
houn and  through  him,  of  course,  to  South  Carolina, 
certainly  took  no  pains  to  prevent  it.  The  ist  of  Febru- 
ary passed  without  trouble.  Ships  entered  at  the  port 
of  Charleston  and  duties  were  paid  upon  their  cargoes 
the  same  as  ever.  The  Nullifiers  confined  their  zeal  to 
loud  talk — with  one  exception.  They  got  up  a  subscrip- 
tion and  had  a  medallion  struck  ofif  with  Calhoun's 
vignette  on  one  side  and  the  inscription,  'Tirst  Presi- 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    285 

dent  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,"  on  the  other.  This 
movement  was  suppressed  by  Governor  Hayne,  and  most 
of  the  medalHons  were  destroyed.  A  few  were  secreted 
and  saved — to  bring  high  prices  in  1861.  Congress, 
after  brief  debate,  passed  a  new  tariff  act,  providing 
a  "horizontal  scale"  of  reduction  of  duties,  calculated 
to  reduce  all  rates  to  twenty  per  cent,  ad  valorem  in  ten 
years.  The  passage  of  this  bill  was  effected  by  compro- 
mise in  the  Senate,  arranged  and  engineered  by  John  M. 
Clayton,  of  Delaware,  and  supported  by  Clay,  Calhoun 
and  Webster.  During  its  discussion,  says  Benton,  Mr. 
Clayton  said  to  Mr.  Clay,  who  had  not  yet  wholly  agreed 
to  it:  "These  South  Carolina  people  have  acted  very 
badly;  but  they  are  really  good  fellows,  and  it  would  be 
a  pity  to  leave  them  for  Jackson  to  shoot  and  hang — 
which  he  certainly  will  do  if  he  gets  among  them!" 

When  the  compromise  bill  was  finally  framed,  Calhoun 
voted  for  it.  That  was  the  end  of  Nullification  with 
merely  the  tariff  as  provocation.  The  next  time  it 
showed  its  hand,  a  far  greater  question  was  behind  it 
— and  an  infinitely  bigger  fight  ahead.  Most  of  his  real 
adherents  thought  the  President  ought  to  have  vetoed 
this  compromise  bill.  It  was  contrived  by  his  enemies 
in  both  parties.  It  passed  the  Senate,  March  2d,  when 
only  one  whole  legislative  day  of  the  session  was  left. 
It  was  then  "railroaded" — to  use  a  more  modern  term — 
through  the  House  in  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  without 
debate,  and  when  not  one-third  of  the  members  knew 
exactly  what  its  provisions  were.  It  was  a  clear  case 
of  "tub  to  the  whale" ;  conceived  and  put  through  with 
the  sole  object  of  pacifying  South  Carolina,  regardless 
of  its  effect  upon  the  national  revenues  or  industries. 


28  6     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

As  a  sop  to  South  Carolina,  it  was  simply  the  dictate  of 
cowardice,  and  nothing  else.  That  State  had  defied  the 
Union.  This  compromise  bill  begged  her  to  be  good, 
and  gave  her  a  reward  for  having  been  bad.  It  should 
have  been  entitled,  "A  Bill  for  Peace  at  Any  Price." 
South  Carolina  should  have  been  made  to  feel  the  power 
of  the  Union  first.  Then  the  tariff  might  have  been 
revised  afterward,  if  revision  were  necessary.  The  whole 
result  was  that,  though  the  State  accepted  the  morsel 
thrown  to  her,  she  did  so  with  augmented  contempt  for 
the  Union  that  threw  it,  and  her  contempt  lived  and 
thrived  for  infinitely  vaster  mischief  later  on. 

Jackson  signed  the  bill  and  thereby  postponed  civil 
war  about  twenty-eight  years.  At  that  moment  the  w^ar 
would  have  been  between  the  Union  and  one  State.  The 
postponement  ended  in  a  war  between  the  Union  and 
eleven  States.  However,  the  day  after  signing  this  bill 
General  Jackson  was  inaugurated  for  his  second  term. 
He  had  made  peace,  but  at  a  ruinous  discount  against 
the  future.*     Few  pieces  of  legislation  have  embodied 

*  We  by  no  means  intend  to  argue  that  if  the  doctrine  of  Secession  and 
Disunion,  as  it  appeared  in  the  guise  of  Nullification  under  Jackson,  had 
been  crushed,  even  as  he  was  wont  to  crush  the  country's  enemies,  its  subse- 
quent reappearance  as  the  "  Slave-power"  would  have  been  prevented.  Nor 
are  we  quite  sure  that  even  a  Jackson,  had  one  stood  in  Buchanan's  sho-'S  a 
quarter  of  a  century  later,  could  have  breasted  the  tide  of  treason  in  his  own 
Cabinet  and  almost  in  his  own  household  that  engulfed  the  weaker  man. 
Yet  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  interesting  subject  of  mere  speculation, 
as  such,  than  that  of  conjecture  as  to  what  Andrew  Jackson  would  have  done 
or  tried  to  do  with  Floyd  and  Toombs  and  their  coparceners  in  such  a  con- 
spiracy as  that  which  racked  and  tore  the  feeble  and  flaccid  administration 
of  Buchanan  in  its  last  sad  days.  As  we  have  already  intimated,  Jack- 
son in  i83o-'32  had  but  one  rebellious  State  to  deal  with.  Buchanan  was 
confronted  by  the  revolt  of  eleven  States.  The  relative  conditions  were  so 
radically  different  in  all  external  and  in  many  internal  aspects  that  there 
seems  to  be  no  common  plane  of  comparison  or  contrast.     Yet  it  is  con- 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY   287 

so  many  diverse  elements  and  interests  in  compromise 
as  this  tariff.     It  passed  the  Senate  only  by  the  united 
influence  of  Calhoun  and  Clay,  who  agreed  in  nothing 
but  hatred  of  Jackson.    In  the  House  it  owed  its  passage 
to  the  parliamentary  skill  and  finesse  of  John  Quincy 
Adams.     Every  thick-and-thin  Jackson  man  in  the  Sen- 
ate and  in  the  House  voted  against  it.    The  only  Jackson 
man  who  had  anything  to  do  with  its  enactment  into 
law  was  the  President  himself.     He  did  not  himself  be- 
lieve it  to  be  a  wise  measure.     Its  spirit  was  contrary 
to  every  recommendation  he  had  made  on  the  subject 
in  four  annual  messages.     His  approval  of  it  can  be 
explained  only  upon  the  ground  that  the  abstention  of 
South  Carolina  from  violence  had  both  surprised  and 
pleased  him,  and  he  was  now  as  merciful  as  he  had  at 
first  been  resentful. 

By  no  means  the  least  important  act  of  General  Jack- 
son's first  administration  was  his  founding  of  the  Wash- 
ington Globe,  an  event  which,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century, 

ceivable  that,  had  Jackson  actually  handled  South  Carolina  as  he  was  un- 
questionably resolved  to  handle  her  had  she  forced  the  issue  on    February 
I    1833,  as  her  convention  and  its  ordinance  committee  threatened  to  do, 
the  result  must  have  been  an  object-lesson  which  might  have  caused  even 
such  desperate  men  as  Floyd  and  Toombs  to  halt  or  even  so  gelatmous  a 
man  as  Buchanan  to  imagine  for  a  moment  that  he  had  a  back  bone.     The 
real  trouble  was  that  when  South  Carolina  in  i86o-'6i  led  off  m  the  move- 
ment that  only  an  Appomattox  could  stop,  and  led  her  sister  States  mto  a 
war  which  could  end  only  by  "making  a  desert  and  callmg  it  peace,     as 
Tacitus   savs,  she   was   emboldened   by   exultant    reminiscence   of   havmg 
bullied  a  Union  with  Jackson  at  its  head.     What  her  behavior  might  have 
been  had  she  been  compelled  to  remember  such  a  punishment  as   Jackson 
certainlv  intended  to  visit  upon  her,  but  for  the  pusillanimous  compromise 
of  Clavton,  Calhoun  and  Clay,  is  yet  and  doubtless  alwavs  will  remain  an 
interesting  theme  of  historical  hypothesis.     As  one  who,  in  humblest  rank, 
helped  to  "make  the  desert"  that  "  they  called  peace"  at  last,  the  Author 
believes  that  the  event  would  have  been  the  same  in  any  case. 


288      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

profoundly  impressed  the  political  history  of  the  nation. 
The  greatest  service  of  the  Globe  to  the  nation  and  to 
human  progress  at  large  was  that,  between  1830  and 
1845,  ^ts  influence  laid  broad  and  deep  the  foundations 
of  that  Union  Democracy  which,  w^hen  its  weight  was 
finally  thrown  into  the  scale  as  between  the  new  Repub- 
lican party  of  the  North  and  the  old  slave-holding  and 
State-rights  Democracy  of  the  South,  prevented  dis- 
union. 

\Mien  General  Jackson  came  to  Washington  to  be 
inaugurated  President  in  1829,  he  accepted  as  the 
"organ"  of  his  administration  the  United  States  Tele- 
graph, whose  editor,  General  Duff  Green,  was  a  friend 
of  Monroe  and  an  ardent  admirer  of  Calhoun.  Upon 
the  estrangement  of  Jackson  and  Calhoun,  in  1830,  the 
Telegraph  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  latter,  leaving 
the  administration  "organless"  at  the  national  Capital; 
an  intolerable  situation  in  those  days.  Just  at  that  crit- 
ical moment,  General  Jackson's  attention  was  attracted 
to  the  writings  of  Francis  P.  Blair,  then  a  lawyer  in 
Kentucky  and  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  press  of 
that  region.  He  asked  Amos  Kendall — also  a  Kentuck- 
ian — about  Mr.  Blair,  and  the  answer  w^as  so  favorable 
that  he  requested  Mr.  Kendall  to  sound  his  friend  on 
the  subject  of  establishing  an  administration  paper  at 
Washington. 

At  that  time  Mr.  Blair  held  the  position  of  clerk  of 
the  circuit  court  of  Kentucky,  and  was  president  of  the 
Commonwealth  Bank,  a  State  cor])oration.  He  also 
owned  a  farm  near  Frankfort.  But  he  had  recently 
undergone  some  financial  reverses  and  had  paid  his  debts 
at  considerable  sacrifice  of  property.     He  had,  however. 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    289 

a  little  available  capital  left,  and  as  his  character  made 
his  credit  almost  limitless  among  those  who  knew  him 
best,  he  decided  to  embrace  the  opportunity.     He   re- 
signed his  positions  in  Kentucky,  went  to  Washington, 
and  soon  organized  a  first-class  newspaper,  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  of  the  Globe.    He  was  at  this  time  ( 1830) 
thirty-nine  years  old,  of  medium  height,  slender  build, 
and  most  unassuming  manner.     An  early  portrait  ex- 
hibits a  refined,  intellectual  face,  suggesting  the  charac- 
ter -of  the  student  rather  than  the  practical  politician ;  the 
lover  of  books  and  belles-lettres  rather  than  the  polemic 
journalist.      He   was   without   editorial   experience,    his 
previous  connection  with  journalism  having  been  that 
of  a  contributor  mainly  to  the  columns  of  the  Kentucky 
Argus,  a  paper  published  at  the  State  capital,  Frankfort. 
But  he  was  born  to  the  tripod  and,  though  not  entering 
regular  journalism  until  his  fortieth  year,  he  soon  made 
up  for  lost  time.     He  had  the  good  fortune  to  secure 
in  Mr.  John  C.  Rives  a  partner  who  combined  editorial 
ability  with  consummate  business  capacity  in  newspaper 
management. 

The  friendship  of  the  administration  brought  to  the 
new  venture  a  good  share  of  the  public  advertising,  then 
indispensable  to  newspaper  success  in  Washington.  Mr. 
Blair  was  opposed  to  the  United  States  Bank,  to  Mr. 
Adams,  to  Mr.  Clay,  to  Mr.  Calhoun  and  to  Nullification. 
He  was  in  favor  of  a  strong,  indissoluble  Federal  Union, 
of  the  Constitution  and  of  General  Jackson.  Before  the 
Globe  had  been  in  existence  a  year  its  reputation  was 
national  and  its  influence  equal  to,  if  not  greater  than, 
that  of  any  other  journal  in  the  United  States.  It  was 
conducted  editorially  with  remarkable  force,  its  style  was 
Vol.  II.— 19 


apo     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

dignified  without  being  turgid,  and  elegant  without  be- 
ing stilted  or  pompous.  It  possessed  to  a  degree  hitherto 
unknown  in  American  journalism  the  merit  of  equal 
adaptability  to  the  reading-rooms  of  mansions  and  to 
the  firesides  of  log-cabins.  It  was  as  popular  on  the 
remotest  frontier  as  in  the  busiest  metropolis,  and  the 
scholar  and  the  pioneer  could  alike  find  equal  resources 
of  pleasure  and  profit  in  its  broad  columns. 

General  Jackson  always  had  a  warm  side  for  men  who 
could  write  vigorously  and  who  wrote  fearlessly.  He 
liked  Mr.  Blair  from  the  first  and  on  a  month's  personal 
acquaintance,  though  they  had  never  met  before,  a  friend- 
ship of  unusual  confidence  and  cordiality  sprang  up  be- 
tween them  which  never  wavered  for  an  instant  while 
they  both  lived.  But  it  was  not  alone  as  an  editor  and 
public  writer  that  ^Ir.  Blair  'was  serviceable  to  General 
Jackson,  nor  alone  as  President  that  his  friendship  was 
valuable  to  ]\Ir.  Blair.  Had  the  two  men  been  simply 
neighbors  in  private  life,  their  relations  with  each  other 
would  have  been  equally  confidential  and  their  mutual 
esteem  equally  warm.  They  relied  upon  each  other  in 
all  the  concerns  of  life.  When  anyone  asked  the  General 
a  question  he  could  not  readily  answer,  he  would  say : 
"Go  and  ask  Frank  Blair.  He  knows  everything  worth 
knowing." 

On  broad  questions  of  political  policy  at  home  or  in- 
ternational relations  abroad ;  on  estimates  of  personal 
character  and  weight  in  deciding  between  rival  aspirants 
for  appointment,  and  from  that  to  purely  private  affairs, 
there  was  no  other  man  in  Washington  or  elsewhere 
whom  the  General  consulted  so  often  or  whose  counsel 
he  adopted  so  confidently  as  Francis  P.  Blair. 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    291 

History,  as  thus  far  written,  seems  to  have  adopted 
as  fixed  truths  a  greater  number  of  campaign  epigrams 
and  epithets  with  regard  to  General  Jackson  than  to 
any  other  man  of  equal  eminence  that  ever  lived.  'The 
Kitchen  Cabinet"  is  a  case  in  point.  The  reader  of 
conventional  biographies  of  the  General  could  not  help 
believing  that  his  official  Cabinet  was  a  wholly  super- 
fluous organization,  which  existing  law  forced  him  to 
provide,  but  which  he  otherwise  ignored  or  held  in  con- 
tempt; while,  on  the  other  hand,  he  called  about  him  a 
few  personal  cronies  or  kindred  spirits,  created  them 
into  a  "Kitchen  Cabinet,"  and,  with  their  assistance, 
conducted  the  business  of  his  great  office  in  his  own  way 
and  theirs. 

The  real  truth  is  that  General  Jackson  had  no  more  of 
that  kind  of  ''cabinet"  than  every  President  has.  He 
was  no  more  under  the  influence  of  personal  or  un- 
official friends  than  Lincoln,  Grant,  Cleveland  or  Mc- 
Kinley  in  later  days;  or  than  John  Adams,  Jefferson, 
Madison  or  Monroe  before  him.  We  omit  Washington 
from  this  list  notwithstanding  his  noted  partiality  for 
the  counsels  of  personal  friends  so  well  known  that  they 
need  not  be  named;  also  John  Quincy  Adams,  because, 
of  all  our  Presidents,  he  was  the  least  accessible  to  the 
public,  the  strictest  in  his  subdivision  of  executive  pow- 
ers and  responsibilities  among  his  constitutional  advis- 
ers, and  the  most  self-centred  in  considering  and  deter- 
mining upon  those  affairs  properly  belonging  to  the  prov- 
ince of  the  President  at  large.  These  observations  must 
not  be  understood  as  implying  criticism.     Far  from  it. 

A  marked  peculiarity  of  General  Jackson's  so-called 
"Kitchen  Cabinet"  is  the  fact  that  no  two  of  his  biog- 


292     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

raphers  seem  to  agree  as  to  its  personnel.  The  same  Is 
true  of  those  who  have  written  about  him  and  his  times 
as  part  of  general  history.  Exhaustive  examination  of 
these  works  will  reveal  a  total  of  twenty  or  more  per- 
sons, many  of  them  somewhat  obscure,  figuring  accord- 
ing to  the  fancy  of  the  biographer  or  historian  from 
time  to  time  as  members  of  that  apocryphal  conclave. 
As  a  rule,  however,  they  are  nearly  unanimous  in  the 
inclusion  of  Mr.  Blair.  As  for  the  other  "members," 
the  comprehensive  reader  finds  a  somewhat  embarrassing 
wealth  of  choice  between  Benton,  Eaton,  Lewis,  Hill, 
Kendall,  Polk,  Allen,  Donelson,  Woodbury,  Marcy, 
Buchanan,  Hannegan,  Forsyth,  White,  Webb,  Henry 
Lee,  Houston,  Duff  Green,  Trist,  ct  al;  not  to  speak 
of  those  members  of  the  real  Cabinet  credited  with  pos- 
session of  latch-keys  to  the  kitchen-door,  such  as  Van 
Buren,  Livingston,  Cass,  Taney  and  Duane. 

Here  are  twenty-five  names.  From  these  each  biog- 
rapher or  historian  seems  inclined  to  select  a  ''block  of 
five,"  or  thereabouts.  No  great  mathematical  acumen 
is  required  to  perceive  that  the  number  of  practicable 
combinations  in  ''blocks  of  five"  out  of  a  total  of  twenty- 
five  is  prodigious.  The  fact  is  that  almost  any  five  will 
meet  the  conditions,  provided  always  that  it  includes  the 
name  of  Francis  P.  Blair  at  any  time  after  the  spring 
of  1830. 

To  this  cursory  review  it  seems  necessary  to  add  only 
that  long  after  General  Jackson  had  passed  away,  an- 
other and  greater  President,  also  of  the  plain  people, 
and  in  a  crisis  far  more  grave  and  distressing  than  any 
that  ever  confronted  Andrew  Jackson,  was  glad  to  sum- 
mon to  his  aid  the  almost  miraculous  knowledge  of  men 


RE-ELECTED    TO    THE    PRESIDENCY    293 

and  of  affairs  possessed  by  the  then  venerable  Francis 
P.  Blair;  and  that,  in  his  riper  years,  the  veteran  of 
Jackson's  "Kitchen  Cabinet"  cut  a  far  more  conspicuous 
figure  and  rendered  service  to  the  Union  of  infinitely 
more  comprehensive  and  enduring  value,  in  the  ''Kitchen 
Cabinet"  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  than  in  that  of  Andrew 
Jackson. 


CHAPTER   XI 

WAR    WITH    THE    UNITED    STATES    BANK 

Jackson's  second  term  opened  under  a  cloudless  po- 
litical sky  and  amid  almost  unanimous  popular  acclama- 
tions.    The  resolute  stand  he  had  taken  for  the  Union 
won  for  him  the  sincere  and  grateful  applause  of  people 
who  had  never  before  regarded  him  with  any   feeling 
but    aversion    or    apprehension.      The    stiff-necked    old 
Puritan  Federalists  of  New  England,  and  their  hardly 
less    stubborn    descendants    in    New    York    and    Ohio, 
learned  with  mingled  astonishment  and  joy  that  Jack- 
son had  at  last  used  his  marvellous  personal  force  and 
prestige  in  a  cause  so  good  that  it  brought  John  Quincy 
Adams  and  Daniel  Webster  to  his  enthusiastic  support. 
This,  they  said  among  themselves,  if  not  the  millennium 
itself,  is  certainly  a  foretaste  of  what  that  blessed  day 
will  be  when  it  does  come.     Newspapers  which,  but  a 
few  months  ago,  were  filled  with  schedules  of  "Jackson's 
murders,"  now  expanded  their  columns  with  praise  for 
the   Stalwart   Defender   of  the   Constitution   and   ''Our 
Federal  Union."     They  forgot  what  he  had  written  to 
Monroe  about  the  Hartford  convention  of  1814  in  their 
rapt   contemplation   of  his   manifesto   to   the   Columbia 
convention  of  1833.    The  fact  that  a  great  many  of  them 
by  this  time  devoutly   wished   to   forget   the   Hartford 
convention   itself,   doubtless  lent  zeal   to  their  approval 
of  Jackson's  attitude  toward  that  of  Columbia.      And 

294 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  295 

something  that  touched  them  more  tenderly  than  all  else 
was  the  story  that  came  from  the  Capital  of  personal 
rapprochement  between  their  own  great  expounder  of 
the  Constitution,  Webster,  and  the  terrible  Jackson — 
the  man  of  ''blood  and  iron,"  of  pistols  and  muskets  and 
rifles  and  ropes  erstwhile — now  suddenly  emerged  into 
the  sunlight  of  the  true  faith  as  its  bulwark  against  the 
wave  of  disunion. 

"Nothing  lacks  now  to  complete  the  love- feast,"  wrote 
Isaac  Hill  to  Benton,  sardonically,  during  the  famous 
visit  of  the  President  to  Boston,  "but  for  Jackson  and 
Webster  to  solemnize  the  coalition  with  a  few  mint- 
juleps!  I  think  I  could  arrange  it,  if  assured  of  the 
co-operation  of  yourself  and  Blair  on  our  side,  and  Jerry 
Mason  and  Nick  Biddle  on  theirs.  But  never  fear,  my 
friend.  This  mixing  of  oil  and  water  is  only  the  tem- 
porary shake-up  of  Nullification.  Wait  till  Jackson  gets 
at  the  Bank  again  and  then  the  scalping-knives  will 
glisten  once  more.'' 

Hill  was  wise  in  his  day  and  generation.  It  was  a 
fact  that,  when  Webster  in  the  Senate  and  ex-President 
Adams  in  the  House  were  supporting  and  carrying  Jack- 
son's request  for  "more  authority  to  enforce  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,"  the  General  sent  his  compliments 
across  Lafayette  Square  to  Webster's  house,  and  with 
them  his  closed  carriage  to  convey  the  Senator  through 
a  blinding  snowstorm  to  the  Capitol.  But  it  was  all 
over  soon.  During  the  subsequent  agitation  on  the  re- 
moval of  the  deposits,  the  Jacksonian  closed  carriage 
was  not  seen  conveying  Senator  Webster  to  the  Capitol 
— or  anywhere  else — snowstorm  or  sunshine. 

It  must,  however,  be  said  that  there  was  never  any 


Q.^6       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

personal  ill-feeling  between  General  Jackson  and  Mr. 
Webster.  He  knew  that  in  his  correspondence  with 
friends  while  hot  campaigns  were  going  on,  Webster 
had  said  some  harsh  things  about  him;  but  of  these  the 
worst  were  quotations  from  Jefferson  or  Calhoun,  and 
he  did  not  deny  that  a  political  opponent  had  a  right  to 
repeat  what  members  of  his  own  party  said  about  him, 
even  though  it  might  be  personal.  But  in  any  event, 
he  knew  that  A\'ebster  had  not  only  kept  aloof  from  the 
calumnies  heaped  upon  him  by  others,  but  also  that  the 
great  Senator  had  more  than  once  used  his  influence  to 
check  that  mode  of  warfare.  More  than  that,  he  had 
been  informed  of  occasions  when  Webster  strongly  de- 
nounced the  W^hig  practice  of  dragging  Mrs.  Jackson's 
name  into  partisan  warfare,  and  this  had  touched  the 
tenderest  chord  in  his  nature. 

Finally,  when  the  Senator  came  to  his  support  with 
all  the  tremendous  power  he  possessed  on  the  Nullifica- 
tion issue,  called  him  the  "Defender  of  the  Constitution 
of  our  country  in  1833  as  he  had  been  the  defender  of 
her  soil  in  181 5'';  and  when,  in  the  debate  upon  the 
special  message  of  January  i6th  asking  for  more  com- 
plete authority,  etc.,  Webster  had  said  that  "no  measure 
to  strengthen  the  hands  of  a  brave  President  for  a  patri- 
otic duty  could  ever  fail  to  find  his  voice  and  vote  in 
its  favor,''  Jackson's  measure  of  admiration  overflowed, 
and  thenceforth  no  one  could  induce  him  to  listen  to  a 
syllable  against  the  author  of  such  utterances. 

With  Clay  and  Calhoun  he  was  not  on  speaking  terms, 
and  toward  one,  if  not  toward  both  of  them,  he  cherished 
animosities  which,  in  his  code,  were  better  expressed  by 
gunpowder  than  by  language.     Toward  Mr.  Adams  he 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  297 

still  entertained  some — though  not  all — of  the  feeling 
that  prompted  him  to  decline  the  usual  courtesies  between 
Presidents  on  the  occasion  of  the  inauguration  in  1829. 
But  there  had  been  no  individual  reconciliation,  or 
thought  of  one,  on  either  side.  Whenever,  in  walks  about 
the  city,  General  Jackson  and  Mr.  Adams  happened  to 
meet,  there  was  simply  a  polite,  though  frigid,  sign  of 
mutual  recognition,  but  no  words  of  greeting.  But  with 
Mr.  Webster  there  were  different  relations.  Whenever 
the  greatest  American  soldier  and  the  greatest  American 
Senator  chanced  to  meet,  whether  on  social  occasions  or 
in  the  street,  there  was  always  a  hearty  salutation,  a 
cordial  shake  of  the  hand,  and  a  pleasant  interchange 
of  *'the  time  o'  day." 

The  opinions  they  held  of  each  other  may  best  be  told 
in  their  own  words:  In  1837,  shortly  after  General  Jack- 
son retired  from  the  presidency,  Thurlow  Weed,  hap- 
pening to  meet  Mr.  Webster  in  New  York,  asked  him 
in  the  course  of  conversation,  what  w^as  his  general  esti-" 
mate  of  Jackson;  his  summary  of  Jackson's  character, 
judged  by  his  career.  Mr.  Webster  replied:  "General 
Jackson  is  an  honest  and  an  upright  man.  He  does  what 
he  thinks  is  right,  and  does  it  with  all  his  might.  He 
has  a  violent  temper,  which  leads  him  often  to  hasty 
conclusions.  It  also  causes  him  to  view  as  personal  to 
himself  the  public  acts  of  other  men.  For  this  reason, 
there  is  great  difference  between  Jackson  angry  and 
Jackson  in  good  humor.  When  he  is  calm,  his  judgment 
is  good;  when  angry,  it  is  usually  bad.  I  will  illustrate, 
Mr.  Weed,  by  quoting  Jackson  himself:  On  a  certain 
occasion  he  advised  a  young  friend  of  his  to  'take  all 
the  time  for  thinking  that  circumstances  would  permit; 


098        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

but,  when  the  time  for  action  came,  to  stop  thinking!' 
Now,  my  observation  of  him  leads  me  to  beheve  that 
he  'stops  tliinking,'  as  a  rule,  a  little  too  soon  and  is 
apt  to  decide  prematurely  that  'the  time  for  action'  has 
come.  These  traits  have  led  him  into  most  of  his  errors 
in  public  life.  His  patriotism  is  no  more  to  be  questioned 
than  that  of  Washington.  He  is  the  greatest  general 
we  have  and,  except  ^^^ashington,  the  greatest  we  ever 
had."  * 

This  is  a  view  of  General  Jackson  which  no  sensible 
admirer,  or  even  ardent  follower,  of  him  will  try  to 
gainsay.  The  above  does  not  embody  all  that  ^Ir.  Weed 
related  of  the  conversation,  but  it  is  enough  to  exhibit 
the  judicial  calmness  of  Mr.  Webster  in  his  estimates 
of  men, 

Jackson's  estimate  of  Webster  was  no  less  character- 
istic. In  the  height  of  the  Bank  war,  when  Air.  Webster 
was,  perhaps,  the  most  potent,  if  not  most  vehement, 
champion  of  that  institution,  the  editor  of  a  Jackson 
organ — not  Mr.  Blair — informed  the  General  that  proof 
could  be  obtained,  showing  conclusively  that  the  Bank 
had  bribed,  and  w^as  constantly  bribing,  the  great  Senator. 

*T  don't  believe  it,"  said  Jackson,  with  emphasis ;  ''not 
a  word  of  it,  sir!  But  what  is  the  nature  of  the  informa- 
tion that  you  call  proof?" 

The  editor  then  explained  that  not  only  the  parent 
Bank  in  Philadelphia,  but  the  branches  in  Washington, 
Boston  and  Portsmouth  had  standing  orders  to  cash  Mr. 
Webster's  checks,  whether  he  had  any  balance  or  not. 
Also  that  William  W.  Corcoran,  who  had  charge  of  the 
Bank's  real  estate  interests,  always  appeared  as  endorser 

*  Reminiscence  by  Thurlow  Weed  to  the  Autlior,  1876. 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  299 

on  Mr.  Webster's  notes  negotiated  at  the  Bank.  General 
Jackson  listened  intently  to  the  charge  and  also  to  the 
details  offered  by  the  editor  to  back  it  up.     At  the  end 

he  said: 

"Well,  sir,  I  admit  that  what  you  have  shown  me 
would  be  evidence  against  some  men,  but  not  against 
Mr.  Webster.  I  have  overdrawn  my  account  a  good 
many  times.  The  fact  that  a  man  has  that  much  credit 
at  a  bank  of  any  kind  is  a  compliment  to  his  integrity. 
As  for  supporting  the  United  States  Bank,  Mr.  Webster 
does  so  because  he  believes  in  it  and  because  the  party 
to  which  he  belongs  believes  in  it  and  sends  him  here 
to  defend  it.  He  would  support  the  Bank  anyhow, 
whether  he  borrowed  money  of  it  or  not.  Mr.  Webster 
may  be  mistaken.  I  think  he  is.  But  he  is  not  dishonest, 
and  nobody  can  make  me  believe  that  he  is." 

The  General  further  declared  that  he  did  not  believe 
the  private  business  affairs  of  any  man  ought  to  be 
brought  into  political  discussion  unless  they  were  of  a 
criminal  nature  or  exhibited  a  general  lack  of  integrity, 
unfitting  him  for  public  trust;  also  that  Mr.  Webster, 
though  his  opponent,  was  not  his  enemy ;  and,  while  he 
did  not  pretend  to  control  the  utterances  of  papers  that 
supported  him,  he  could  not  consider  an  unfair  or  un- 
warranted attack  upon  any  man  as  legitimate  party  war- 
fare,  whether   its   object   were    friendly   to   himself   or 

hostile. 

On  another  occasion,  while  the  debate  between  Web- 
ster and  Hayne  was  in  progress,  one  of  the  General's 
intimate  friends  came  to  him  from  the  Capitol  and  in- 
formed him  that  he  had  just  been  listening  to  Webster 
for  about  two  hours. 


300     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

"What  is  he  doing  with  Hayne?''  inquired  Jackson. 

"Getting  the  best  of  him,  I  fear,  General." 

"I  expected  that.  Hayne  is  no  match  for  Webster 
on  that  kind  of  a  question;  and  besides,  he  is  on  the 
wrong  side!'' 

Of  course,  Jackson  knew  that  the  doctrines  of  Hayne 
could  lead  nowhere  but  to  Nullification,  and  on  that 
issue  he  and  \\'ebster  were  agreed.  Whether  he  would 
have  taken  a  similar  view  of  the  great  Senator's  power 
in  support  of  anything  that  he  opposed  is  another  ques- 
tion. But  it  is  at  least  a  refreshing  oasis  in  that  wild 
waste  of  crimination  and  recrimination  to  know  that 
two  such  colossal  public  adversaries  as  Jackson  and  Web- 
ster were  could  maintain  friendly  relations  and  hold  re- 
spectful opinions  of  each  other  in  private  capacity.  W^e 
are  aware  that  the  foregoing  does  not  accord  with  a 
prevalent  impression  as  to  the  personal  relations  that 
existed  between  General  Jackson  and  Senator  Webster, 
but  it  is  true. 

Another  anecdote  is  apropos  here,  though  out  of  the 
chronological  order.  When  Congress  adjourned  in  the 
summer  of  1834,  William  Allen,  then  the  youngest  mem- 
ber of  the  House,  and  already  a  leader,  accompanied 
President  Jackson  home  to  the  Hermitage.  Mr.  Web- 
ster had  become  a  candidate  for  the  Whig  nomination 
to  the  presidency  then,  and  naturally  his  name  came  up 
for  discussion  at  the  dinner-table.  Mr.  Allen  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  appearance  of  Webster  in  the  field 
must  destroy  any  chance  that  Clay  might  have  had. 

"Oh,  no,  William,  not  that,"  said  Jackson.  "Clay 
didn't  need  W^ebster  in  the  field  to  end  his  chances. 
He  has  never  had  any  since  the  votes  were  counted  in 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  301 

1832.  As  for  Mr.  Webster,  he  would  make  a  better 
President  than  any  other  Whig  I  know  of,  but  he  has 
no  chance,  either." 

''Why  not,  General?" 

''Because  he  is  too  far  East,  knows  too  much,  and  is 
too  honest!" 

"But,  General,  if  not  Clay  in  the  West  or  Webster 
in  the  East,  who,  in  your  judgment,  is  the  probable 
Whig  candidate?" 

"Harrison." 

"Harrison?  Why,  I  haven't  heard  of  that,  and  I  live 
in  Ohio,  too,  and  think  I  keep  my  eyes  and  ears  open. 
Why  do  you  say  Harrison?" 

"Because  the  Whigs  have  got  to  take  up  a  soldier. 
They  have  tried  orators  enough.  Harrison  is  the  only 
soldier  they  have  who  has  ever  fought  a  real  battle  or 
won  a  real  victory.  Then  he  is  a  man  whom  Clay  can 
use.  The  old  saying  is,  'Clay  in  the  hands  of  the  pot- 
ter.' But  Harrison  would  be  potter  in  the  hands  of 
Clay.  However,  it  won't  make  any  difference.  My  suc- 
cessor will  be  a  Democrat.  But  Harrison  will  run  against 
him.  Clay  can't  get  the  nomination  himself,  but  he  can 
keep  Webster  from  getting  it  and  can  name  the  man. 
He  can't  use  Webster  and  he  can,  as  I  have  said,  use 
Harrison.    To  me,  the  whole  game  is  plain  as  checkers." 

"What  do  you  think  about  Harrison's  strength,  Gen- 
eral?" 

"As  I  said,  my  successor  will  be  a  Democrat.  But  if 
the  Eastern  Whigs  will  unite  with  the  Western  ones  on 
Harrison,  he  will  be  stronger  than  any  other  man  they 
have,  simply  because  he  has  been  a  sMdier  and  has  won 
a  victory  or  two.     Still  he  cannot  win.     But  if  they  will 


302     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

unite  on  him,  he  will  come  nearer  winning  than  Clay 
did  two  years  ago."  * 

General  Jackson  in  1834  clearly  outlined  the  Whig 
programme  for  1836,  and  also  the  result.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  he  kept  close  watch  upon  the  progress  of  events 
and  the  personalities  not  only  of  men  in  his  own  party, 
but  of  those  in  the  opposition  also.  And  his  sagacity 
in  either  direction  was  equally  apparent.  Of  course,  we 
must  in  common  courtesy  credit  him  with  sincerity  in 
his  customary  declaration  that  he  was  ''no  politician" ; 
but  that  admission,  when  we  survey  his  prescience  as 
to  the  practical  operation  of  party  logic  in  his  times, 
must  presuppose  an  entire  failure  properly  to  estimate 
himself.  The  more  tenable  solution  of  the  apparent  dis- 
crepancy is  that  the  General's  oft-iterated  claim  of  inno- 
cence in  the  art  political  was  one  of  his  frequent  at- 
tempts at  humor. 

During  June,  1833,  the  President,  with  Vice-President 
Van  Buren,  General  Cass,  Mr.  Woodbury  and  several 
members  of  his  official  household,  made  a  tour  through 
the  Northeastern  States.  He  had  not  before  visited  New 
England  and  knew  very  little  about  that  region  or  its 
people  except  as  he  saw  their  representatives  at  the  na- 
tional Capital.  New  York  he  knew  pretty  well,  and  his 
acquaintance  with  Pennsylvania  was  thorough.  But 
New  England,  until  the  spring  of  1833,  had  been  to 
him  terra  incognita.  A  favorite  boast  with  him  was 
that  his  foot  "had  never  pressed  foreign  soil" ;  that, 
''born  and  raised  in  the  United  States,  he  had  never 
been  out  of  the  country."     It  is  recorded  that  he  one 

*  Reminiscence  of  Governor  Allen,  in  1875. 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  303 

day  made  this  exultant  observation  in  the  presence  of 
Mrs.  Eaton,  whose  Irish  wit  prompted  her  to  inquire: 
''But  how  about  Florida,  General?" 

"That's  so.  I  did  go  to  Florida  when  it  was  a  for- 
eign country;  but  I  had  quite  forgotten  that  fact  when 
I  made  the  remark." 

'T  expect,  General,  you  forgot  that  Florida  was  for- 
eign when  you  made  the  trip !" 

The  General  was  put  hors  de  combat  for  a  moment, 
but  soon  rallied.  ''Yes,  yes,  maybe  so.  Some  weak- 
kneed  people  in  our  own  country  seemed  to  think  so." 

"Oh,  well,  General,  never  mind.  Florida  didn't  stay 
foreign  long  after  you  had  been  there!" 

This  was  one  of  his  favorite  anecdotes  for  the  rest 
of  his  life.  Whenever  he  related  it,  he  would  add: 
"Smartest  little  woman  in  America,  sir;  by  all  odds, 
the  smartest!" 

At  the  time  under  consideration,  it  might  almost  have 
been  said  that  Jackson  viewed  New  England  as  being, 
if  not  altogether  "foreign,"  at  least  quite  un-American. 
"I  reckon  they  won't  mob  me  in  Boston,  Isaac,"  he  re- 
remarked  to  Senator  Hill,  of  New  Hampshire,  as  the 
party  approached  the  Cradle  of  Liberty. 

"I'm  afraid  they  will  mob  you,  General,"  replied 
Isaac  meekly.  "But  it  won't  be  a  circumstance  to  the 
trouble  you'll  get  into  when  we  reach  New  Hampshire!" 

They  did  "mob  him"  in  Boston.  Edward  Everett 
said  that  only  two  other  men  had  been  received  in  Bos- 
ton as  General  Jackson  was.  They  were  Washington 
and  Lafayette.  Among  the  minor  hospitalities  were  the 
freedom  of  the  city,  an  entire  floor  of  the  principal  hotel 
for  the  accommodation  of  himself  and  his  friends,  the 


304       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

governor's  coach-and-four  was  placed  at  his  service,  and 
numerous  other  offerings  for  his  comfort  too  numerous 
to  mention.  The  General  particularly  observed  the 
polite  consideration  of  the  throngs  who  called  upon  him. 
"They  do  not  crush  me  against  the  wall,''  he  said,  ''like 
those  folks  in  New  York.  They  behave  like  sensible 
people — as  if  they  had  seen  presidents  before." 

This  opportunity  could  not  escape  the  satire  of  Isaac 
Hill.  Democrat  as  he  himself  was,  he  couldn't  help 
suggesting  in  a  sly  way :  "Well,  General,  you  see  there 
are  more  Democrats  in  New  York  than  here."  Whether 
Jackson  quite  caught  Hill's  humor  is  not  of  record. 
Hill,  who  still  had  a  good  deal  of  the  Puritan  in  him, 
never  liked  the  pushing,  rushing  and  grasping  way  the 
New  York  Democrats  had. 

But  the  crowning  glory  was  the  trip  to  Cambridge. 
There  the  General  surveyed  \vith  rapt  interest  the  site 
of  the  camp  where  Washington's  army  assembled  in 
1775.  Standing  on  the  spot  where  the  old  head-quarters 
flagstaff  stood,  he  took  off  his  hat,  raised  his  right  hand, 
and  said :  "Let  us  be  reverent  here.  This  is  the  spot 
where  our  people  first  gathered  in  full  force  under  a 
great  commander  to  defend  their  rights.  Let  us  in 
silence  raise  our  right  hands  to  the  memory  of  Washing- 
ton and  his  Patriot  army,  with  the  single  thought  that 
our  right  hands  shall  ever  keep  the  liberty  theirs  gained!" 

"Few  eyes  were  dry,"  said  John  Quincy  Adams,  com- 
menting afterward  on  this  scene.  What  a  pity  it  was 
that  Mr.  Adams  should  have  chosen  to  be  a  quiet  and, 
to  the  guest  of  honor,  an  unnoticed  spectator  of  an 
event  like  that.  Jackson  did  not  even  know  he  was 
there. 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  30^ 

Then  came  the  dimax :  conferment  of  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Laws  by  Harvard  College.  Francis  Bowen, 
leader  of  the  Class  of  1833,  on  behalf  of  the  college  boys, 
pronounced  a  salutatory  in  Latin.  In  the  exordium  he 
said :  ''Harvard  welcomes  Jackson  the  President.  She 
embraces  Jackson  the  Patriot."  Wild  applause  greeted 
this  phrase;  cheers  from  the  people;  college  yells  from 
"the  boys."  The  General  turned  to  Levi  Woodbury  and 
asked  him  to  translate  it.  ''You're  a  college  man,  Wood- 
bury," he  said.  "My  Latin  is  a  little  rusty.  All  I  can 
make  out  is  something  about  patriots." 

Mr.  Woodbury,  who  was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth 
and  a  thorough  classical  scholar,  gave  him  an  accurate 
translation  of  Bowen's  phrase.  "A  splendid  compli- 
ment, sir,  a  splendid  compliment,"  said  Jackson.  "But 
why  talk  about  so  live  a  thing  as  patriotism  in  a  dead 
language?" 

After  the  ceremony,  the  undergraduates  were  all  in- 
trodiiced  to  the  President.  As  each  one  took  the  distin- 
guished guest's  hand,  he  addressed  him  by  his  new  title, 
"Doctor  Jackson,"  to  the  infinite  edification  and  amuse- 
ment of  the  grizzly  old  warrior.  He  then  made  a  brief 
address  of  thanks  and  farewell.  The  only  part  of  it  pre- 
served is  that  noted  down  by  Mr.  Woodbury :  "I  shall 
have  to  speak  in  English,  not  being  able  to  return  your 
compliment  in  what  appears  to  be  the  language  of  Har- 
vard. All  the  Latin  I  know  is  E  phirihns  nmunr  "At 
which,"  says  Mr.  Woodbury,  "there  was  even  louder 
and  longer  applause  than  that  which  greeted  Mr.  Bowen's 
happy  phrase;  but  this  was  probably  because  the  people 
could  understand   General  Jackson's   Latin  better  than 

they  could  Mr.   Bowen's." 
Vol.  II. — 20 


3o6        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Whether  or  not  the  people  of  Boston  ''mobbed''  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  he  was  taken  quite  ill  on  the  day  of  his 
intended  departure  and  was  confined  to  bed.  His  trouble 
was  the  hemorrhage  that  had  so  often  prostrated  him 
before,  but  this  attack  was  more  serious  and  stubborn 
than  any  previous  one.  He  attributed  it  to  the  strain  he 
had  undergone  during  the  demonstration  in  New  York. 
That  affair  included  the  usual  triumphal  procession  up 
Broadway  from  the  Battery  to  Union  Square.  It  had 
been  arranged  that  the  President  and  Vice-President 
should  lead  the  procession  in  an  open  carriage.  He 
objected  to  this  and  told  Colonel  Waddell,  master  of 
ceremonies,  that  he  wished  to  go  on  horseback — ''and 
I  want  a  horse,"  he  added,  "that  it  takes  a  man  to 
ride." 

They  gave  him  a  magnificent  animal,  which  proved 
to  be  rather  intractable.  The  General  had  a  good  deal 
of  trouble  to  keep  him  off  the  sidewalks  and,  as  he 
himself  said,  "out  of  the  houses."  The  bit  was  too  mild 
for  such  a  charger,  and  the  General  had  no  spurs.  The 
result  was  a  severe  strain  upon  his  arms  and  the  muscles 
of  the  shoulders  and  chest,  which  at  once  caused  sore- 
ness in  the  region  of  the  lungs.  This  got  worse  on  the 
journey  to  Boston  and  culminated  in  the  illness. 

His  last  public  function  at  Boston  was  a  visit  to 
Bunker  Hill.  'Tt  was  a  good  deal  like  New  Orleans," 
he  said,  "only  not  quite  so  much  of  it.  But  it  had  the 
advantage  over  New  Orleans  of  being  the  first  fight  for 
our  Independence,  while  New  Orleans  came  in  at  the 
tail-end  of  the  last." 

From  Boston  the  presidential  party  went  to  Concord, 
New  Hampshire,  the  principal  object  of  that  part  of  the 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  307 

journey  being,  as  General  Jackson  privately  informed 
Mr.  Woodbury,  ''to  see  if  Ike  Hill  behaved  any  better 
at  home  than  he  did  in  Washington." 

The  terminus  of  the  trip  as  planned  was  to  be  Port- 
land, Maine;  and  the  General  was  very  desirous  of  visit- 
ing that  State,  whose  unexpected  electoral  vote  for  him 
the  year  before  had  been  a  source  of  extraordinary  grati- 
fication.    But  after  passing  three  days  at  Concord,  he 
became   apprehensive   of   another    attack    and    returned 
thence  direct  to  the  national  Capital.     The  most  note- 
worthy remark  he  made  while  in  New  Hampshire,  as 
preserved  by  Mr.  Hill,  was  in  his  response  to  the  com- 
mittee who  received  him  at  the  State  Capitol.     'Tt  gives 
me  great  pleasure,"  he  said,  ''to  visit  the  State  and  greet 
the  fellow-citizens  of  John  and  Molly  Stark."     Then  he 
told  them  that  he  had  the  pleasure  of  being  with  Presi- 
dent Monroe  at  the  White  House  when  he  signed  the 
special  act   of   Congress   granting  a   pension  of  $60  a 
month  to  General   Stark.     "I  was  major-general  com- 
manding the  southern  division  then,"  he  said,  "and  called 
on  the  President  to  talk  over  the  Indian  troubles  which 
led  to  what  some  people  call  my  unauthorized  invasion 
of  Florida  the  next  year.     [Prolonged  applause.]     W^hile 
we   were   talking,    Mr.    Gouverneur    [Monroe's    private 
secretary]   brought  in  some  enrolled  bills,  and  the  one 
to  pension   General   Stark  was  the  first  in  the  packet. 
The  President  looked  at  it,  handed  it  to  me,  and  asked, 
with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye:  'Do  you  recommend  the  ap- 
proval of  this  bill.  General  ?    I  mean,  not  in  your  present 
capacity  as  major-general,  but  as  a  Revolutionary  soldier 
and  comrade  of  General  Stark.'     I  assured  him  I  did — 
in   both    capacities — and    he   at   once    signed    the   bill." 
[Tremendous  applause.] 


3o8        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

At  that  time  (1833)  quite  a  number  of  Revolutionary 
veterans  were  still  living  in  the  Granite  State.  Isaac 
Hill's  instinct  for  the  dramatic  impelled  him,  at  no  little 
expense,  to  have  as  many  of  them  as  were  able  to  travel 
brought  to  Concord  from  the  neighboring  towns,  ''to 
meet  their  old  comrade,"  as  he  expressed  it.  A  special 
reception  for  them  was  arranged  at  his  own  house,  his 
venerable  uncle,  Abram  Hill,  being  present — a  veteran 
of  Bunker  Hill,  Bennington,  Saratoga,  and  many  other 
hard-fought  fields.  The  whole  affair  had  been  privately 
arranged,  and  was  a  "surprise  party."  The  youngest  of 
these  New  England  veterans  was  over  seventy  years  of 
age.  The  oldest  one  able  to  be  present  was  "Uncle 
Jonathan  Wells,"  of  Amoskeag,  eighty-nine  years  old, 
but  still  hearty.  He  had  served  in  the  navy  of  the 
Revolution,  and  was  with  Paul  Jones  in  the  Ranger  and 
the  Richard.  When  introduced  to  the  General,  the  old 
salt  looked  him  over  critically  and  finally  observed : 
"Gin'ral,  you  remind  me  a  good  deal  of  the  Old  Commo- 
dore [meaning,  of  course,  Jones]  except  you're  some 
bigger'n  he  was;  and  from  what  I've  heard  and  read 
about  you,  you  are  a  good  deal  like  him  too — in  par- 
ticular about  the  English!  And  I  want  to  tell  you, 
Gin'ral,  that  you  and  him  give  them  English  the  two 
d dest  lickings  they  ever  got!" 

The  General's  eyes  were  full  of  tears.  "Gentlemen," 
he  said,  as  soon  as  he  could  find  voice,  "that  is  the  most 
flattering  compliment  ever  paid  me,  and  I've  enjoyed 
a  good  many!"  He  then  declared  that  he  could  not 
sufficiently  control  his  feelings  to  attempt  a  speech  to 
them.  But  he  had  each  of  them  run  his  finger  along 
a  furrow  on  the  left  side  of  his  head,  concealed  bv  his 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  309 

thick  hair.  'That  is  my  certificate  of  service  in  the 
Revolution,"  he  said.  ''That  scar  is  proof  that  I  re- 
fused to  black  a  British  officer's  boots  when  I  was  a 
prisoner  of  war!" 

General  Jackson  then  mustered  the  veterans  and  ascer- 
tained from  each  his  age.  He  found  that  the  youngest 
of  them  was  a  man  named  Abel  Chandler,  seventy-three 
years  old.  His  own  age  was  sixty-six,  he  being  in  his 
sixty-seventh  year.  He  therefore  claimed  the  distinction 
of  being  the  youngest  Revolutionary  veteran  then  in  the 
State,  which  they  all  admitted.  ' 

On  his  return  to  Washington  he  passed  through  Lowell. 
There  a  man  approached  him  and  said :  "General,  I  was 
with  you  at  New  Orleans." 

"You  must  be  a  Kentuckian,  then,"  he  replied,  "be- 
cause I  knew  personally  every  man  there  from  Ten- 
nessee." 

"No,  sir;  I  was  born  in  Ireland,  and  my  parents 
brought  me  over  when  I  was  four  years  old." 

"I  came  very  near  being  born  in  Ireland,  myself.  But 
what  command  were  you  in  at  New  Orleans?" 

"I  was  a  regular,  sir,  in  Humphrey's  battery." 

"Oh,  indeed!  A  great  battery,  my  good  friend;  and 
a  most  excellent  commander.  Give  me  your  hand  again, 
sir.  I  certainly  am  very  glad  to  see  you.  Wliat  are 
you  doing  now,  if  I  may  take  the  liberty  of  asking?'' 

"I  am  a  stage-driver,  sir." 

"Ah!  Still  serving  the  public,  I  see.  Good  soldiers 
make  good  stage-drivers.  The  same  qualities  required 
in  both :  cool  head,  quick  eye,  strong  and  steady  hand  I 
The  same  qualities,  sir!  A  stage-driver  is  a  most  im- 
portant person,  my  friend.     The  lives  and  limbs  of  peo- 


3IO       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

pie  are  constantly  in  his  keeping.  I  am  sure  you  are 
as  good  a  protector  of  your  passengers  now  as  you  were 
of  our  country  at  New  Orleans!" 

The  General  then  took  from  his  pocket  a  brand-new 
eagle  —  ten-dollar  gold-piece  —  of  that  year,  1833. 
"Please  accept  this,  sir,  as  a  token  of  my  friendship 
for  you.  Keep  it.  So  long  as  you  keep  it,  you  will  have 
something  laid  by  for  a  rainy  day.  It's  a  good  thing, 
to  have  a  little  something  laid  by!" 

From  all  these  incidents,  not  in  themselves  of  great 
importance,  the  inference  is  clear  that  General  Jackson 
did  not  lack  the  happy  faculty  of  saying  the  right  thing 
in  the  right  place,  notwithstanding  his  propensity  at 
times,  as  we  have  frequently  remarked,  to  do  the  right 
thing  the  wrong  way.  Few  masters  of  the  art  of  ''re- 
ception oratory"  could  have  contrived  sentiments  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment  more  opportune  to  the  time  and 
place  than  the  little  speeches  of  his  New  England  tour 
just  recorded.  He  may  have  thought  them  out  before- 
hand. Most  men  who  gain  great  reputations  for  im- 
promptu speaking  carefully  ''premeditate  their  impromp- 
tus," as  Artemus  Ward  said.  But  they  were  all  good, 
all  true  and  all  timely.  None  of  them  exhibit  Jackson 
in  the  character  conventionally  attributed  to  him :  a  char- 
acter of  stiffness,  solemnity  and  distance.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  all  bespeak  a  keen  camaraderie,  ready  wit,  and 
most  democratic  adaptability.  Flis  acknowledgment  of 
the  great  compliment  paid  him  by  the  venerable  Mr. 
Wells  was  heartfelt.  He  was  intensely  flattered  by  hav- 
ing his  name  linked  in  that  way  with  Paul  Jones.  He 
spoke  of  it  afterward  to  Mr.  Hill,  Mr.  Blair,  and  others. 
To  Mr.  Blair  he  declared  that  "the  whole  corporation 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK 


311 


of  admirals  in  naval  history,  sir,  were  not  equal  to  Paul 
Jones!  They  surrendered  when  their  ships  began  to 
sink.  But  he  just  began  to  light,  sir,  at  that  moment! 
I  have  read  Colonel  Sherburne's  book  about  him,  with 
his  own  letters.  [Published  in  1825.]  The  English 
called  him  a  pirate.  I  venture  to  say  that  they  have 
held  opinions  of  me  at  times  not  much  different.  He 
was  the  Washington  of  our  navy;  Father  of  his  Coun- 
try on  the  sea!" 

Apprehension  of  further  ill-health  may  have  been  the 
cause  of  General  Jackson's  sudden  return  to  Washington. 
But  upon  his  arrival  there  he  was  well  enough  to  resume 
his  warfare  upon  the  United  States  Bank.  In  fact,  he 
sounded  the  first  note  of  renewed  hostilities  while  in 
Boston,  vrhence,  on  June  26th,  he  wrote  a  letter  to 
Secretary  Duane,  unfolding  a  scheme  for  selecting  State 
banks  to  be  depositories  of  the  government  moneys  which 
he  had  determined  to  withdraw  from  the  institution  of 
Mr.  Biddle.  The  primary  feature  of  this  scheme  was 
as  follows,  in  his  own  words : 

''i.  That  one  bank  be  selected  in  Baltimore,  one  in 
Philadelphia,  two  in  New  York  and  one  in  Boston,  with 
a  right  on  the  part  of  the  government  to  add  one  in 
Savannah,  one  in  Charleston,  one  in  the  State  of  Ala- 
bama, one  in  New  Orleans  and  one  in  Norfolk  .  .  . 
to  receive  the  deposits  in  those  places,  and  be  responsible 
to  the  government  for  the  whole  public  deposits  of  the 
United  States." 

The  second  clause  provided  that  the  "primary  banks," 
as  those  described  in  the  first  clause  were  called,  might 
select  "secondary  depositories" — that  is,  other  banks — 


312       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

to  receive  public  deposits,  subject  to  the  absolute  will 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Other  clauses  pro- 
vided for  a  system  of  Federal  supervision  over  the  books 
and  general  accounts  of  each  depository,  involving  an 
espionage  to  which  a  bank  of  established  business  and 
responsible  character  would  not  be  likely  to  submit. 
Finally,  the  letter  recommended  Amos  Kendall  as  a 
person  qualified  to  conduct  the  necessary  negotiations 
with  the  several  banks  contemplated. 

When  the  words  'Svithdrawal  of  public  deposits  from 
the  United  States  Bank"  are  used,  it  must  not  be  sup- 
posed that  an  immediate  removal  of  moneys  then  on 
deposit  there  was  contemplated.  The  proposition  was 
to  leave  the  sum  already  deposited  and  check  against  it 
from  time  to  time  to  meet  the  public  needs  until  it  was 
exhausted,  but  to  cease  making  deposits  on  and  after 
a  date  to  be  specified.  The  amount  of  Federal  deposits 
then  in  the  United  States  Bank  and  its  branches  was 
between  nine  and  ten  millions  of  dollars.  This  arrange- 
ment. General  Jackson  thought,  would  give  the  Bank 
ample  time  to  adjust  its  loans,  curtail  its  accommodations 
and  prepare  for  a  wind-up  without  serious  embarrass- 
ment on  the  expiration  of  its  charter,  March  4,  1836. 
The  General  then — not  in  the  Boston  letter,  but  in  sub- 
sequent communications — proposed  that  if  the  State  bank 
plan  should  not  prove  practicable,  a  national  bank,  un- 
der direct  control  of  the  Federal  executive,  might  be 
created  by  Congress  to  operate  on  a  system  which,  as 
nearly  as  his  idea  can  be  made  out  at  this  interval  of 
time,  would  have  been  similar  to  the  present  scheme  of 
greenback  currency  based  on  specie  held  in  the  Treasury 
and  sub-treasuries. 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  313 

But  the  whole  project  was  new  and  indefinite  and  its 
description  was  crudely  expressed.  Whoever  may  have 
been  his  advisers  as  to  a  financial  policy,  it  is  clear  that 
none  of  them  was  capable  of  reducing  a  fiscal  project 
to  tangible  form  in  legislative  phraseology.  But  one 
fact  was  made  perfectly  clear:  that  the  President  was 
determined  to  cease  depositing  Federal  moneys  in  the 
United  States— or  ''Mr.  Biddle's"— Bank,  and  to  draw 
out  the  amount  already  there  as  soon  as  it  could  be  done 
without  causing  unnecessary  distress. 

At  this  point  it  becomes  necessary^  to  say  that  there 
is  no  chapter  in  the  history  of  any  great  American — 
not  even  any  other  chapter  in  that  of  i\ndrew  Jackson 
himself— in  which  the  task  of  separating  the  real  truth 
from  partisan  falsehood,  the  genuine  facts  from  cam- 
paign lies,  has  been  so  difficult  as  in  Jackson's  war 
against  the  Bank.  There  has  never  been  a  time  from 
that  day  to  this  when  two  complete,  circumstantial  and 
apparently  well-authenticated  versions  of  it  could  not  be 
prepared,  each  diametrically  opposed  to  the  other  in 
letter,  aim  and  spirit. 

Yet  we  believe  that  the  real  truth  may  some  time  be 
learned  and  told.  We  shall  make  no  pretensions  to  the 
function  of  arbitrator.  It  would  be  absurd  for  a  man 
whose  grandfathers  both  voted  for  Jackson  whenever 
they  had  the  chance  to  assume  such  a  function.  But  we 
think  that  out  from  under  all  the  interminable  rubbish 
piled  up  in  speeches,  congressional  and  otherwise,  pam- 
phlets, old  newspaper  files  and  reports  of  investigations, 
at  least  two  great  enduring  facts  may  be  exhumed: 
First,  that  the  Bank,  in  its  best  days,  subserved  a  useful 
purpose  and,  whether  ''constitutional"  or  not,  was  a  pub- 


314        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

lie  benefactor  in  the  fiscal  infancy  of  the  country.  Sec- 
ond, that  Jackson,  conscientiously  and  on  fundamental 
principle,  believed  it  was  wrong  to  lend  the  financial 
power  and  resources  of  the  country  to  any  chartered 
monopoly  whatsoever  on  any  terms  imaginable. 

The  Bank  and  its  adherents  believed  it  had  a  right 
to  fight  for  its  existence,  and  that  the  range  of  permis- 
sible tactics  in  self-defence  was  very  wide.  Jackson  and 
his  followers  believed  that  it  was  a  menace  to  our  insti- 
tutions; that,  therefore,  it  ought  to  be  destroyed,  and 
that,  in  the  effort  to  destroy  it,  the  end  would  to  a  great 
extent  justify  the  means.  Fortunately  or  unfortunately, 
according  to  the  point  of  view,  the  head  of  the  Bank, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  head  of  the  administration, 
on  the  other,  were  men  of  quite  similar  nature.  Both 
were  combative,  resolute  and  imperious.  Both  were 
fighting  men.  Neither  wa?  a  man  of  compromise. 
Biddle  was  as  anxious  to  destroy  Jackson  as  Jackson 
was  to  annihilate  Biddle.  In  the  end  the  whole  im- 
broglio resolved  itself  into  something  very  closely  ap- 
proaching personal  combat  between  two  great  men,  so 
radically  antagonistic  and  so  utterly  irreconcilable  that 
both  could  not  hold  commanding  power  in  the  same 
country  and  at  the  same  time. 

In  the  summer  of  1833  the  situation  was  about  like 
this :  Jackson  knew  that  the  Congress  which  would  meet 
the  2d  of  December  had  a  Senate  favorable  to  the  re- 
charter  of  the  Bank  and  a  House  opposed  to  it.  He 
exaggerated  the  Bank's  power  to  influence  legislation — 
or,  as  he  would  put  it,  "to  corrupt  Congress  by  the  use 
of  money."  He  declared  time  and  again  by  his  own 
words,  and  his  organs  proclaimed  with  his  full  sanction 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  315 

and  approval,  that  "the  Bank  used  the  people's  money 
to  debauch  the  people's  government." 

In  support  of  these  charges  they  adduced  what  they 
termed  the  ''confessions"  of  the  presidents  and  directors 
of  the  Bank  and  its  branches  under  investigation.  These 
officials  had  admitted  that  money  was  paid  out  of  the 
Bank  for  publications  to  counteract  the  effect  of  attacks 
upon  it  and  for  "other  legitimate  purposes" ;  reserving 
to  themselves,  however,  the  sole  right  to  define  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "legitimate"  in  that  connection.  But 
these  criminations  and  recriminations  were  really  the 
noise  of  the  battle  to  be  heard  from  afar,  not  the  conflict 
itself.  The  election  of  1832  had,  as  both  Jackson  and 
Biddle  believed,  expressed  the  views  and  wishes  of  a 
considerable  majority  of  the  voters;  but  they  were  not 
agreed  either  as  to  the  true  cause  of  the  popular  verdict 
or  as  to  what  the  just  and  proper  estimate  of  its  signifi- 
cance ought  to  be.  Jackson  accepted  the  result  of  the 
election  to  mean  that  the  people  were  beginning  to  un- 
derstand what  a  monster  the  Bank  was,  and  that  the 
significance  of  their  majority  for  him  was  in  effect  a 
command  that  he  should  throttle  it  and  put  it  out  of 
existence  by  whatsoever  method  might  promise  the 
speediest  and  surest  destruction.  In  other  words,  we 
think  it  within  conservative  bounds  to  say  that  Jackson 
regarded  the  remarkable  majorities  given  to  him  in  1832 
as  a  proclamation  of  outlawry  by  the  people  against 
the  Bank. 

This,  of  course,  was  an  extreme  view  and  one  wholly 
untenable  as  a  guide  to  action,  but  it  was  a  view  nat- 
urally consequent  upon  his  inveterate  mental  habit  of 
reducing  every  problem  in  politics  to  the  "personal  equa- 


3i6       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

tion" — for  the  want  of  a  better  term.  One  of  the  oldest 
aphorisms  is  that  a  man  conscientiously  wrong  is  infi- 
nitely more  dangerous  than  a  man  wrong  by  choice.  In 
this  case  Jackson  w^as  partly  wrong  and  partly  right — 
and  equally  conscientious  in  both.  He  was  right  on  the 
general  principle  that  the  government  should  not  per- 
manently bestow  the  benefit  of  its  financial  power  upon 
any  chartered  monopoly  devised  for  the  enrichment  of 
a  select  and  limited  few.  He  was  wrong  in  the  extrava- 
gance of  his  estimate  of  the  Bank's  power  to  corrupt 
Congress.  He  was  wrong  in  his  theory,  based  upon  that 
error,  that  the  Bank  must  be  struck  and  crippled  at  once. 
He  was  wrong  in  his  policy,  based  upon  both  errors,  of 
crippling  the  Bank  by  that  expedient  which  was  readiest 
and  easiest  of  application,  the  summary  cessation  of  de- 
posits in  spite  of  a  contract  by  which  the  government 
was  as  truly  bound  as  the  Bank,  and  which  was  predi- 
cated upon  a  charter  having  yet  nearly  three  years  to 
run. 

The  Russians  have  a  proverb,  a  free  translation  of 
which  is  that  a  parent  sin  always  has  a  large  family. 
In  this  case,  the  parent  wrongs  or  errors  we  have  as- 
cribed to  Jackson's  attitude  begot  another,  less  suscepti- 
ble of  palliation  than  its  progenitors.  It  was  his  assump- 
tion that  the  Bank  was  itself  insolvent  and,  therefore,  the 
way  to  save  the  government's  money  was  to  distress  the 
Bank.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  he  himself  viewed 
it  that  way  or  would  have  so  expressed  his  purpose. 
But  that  was  the  way  it  w'ould  have  occurred  to  ''the 
man  in  the  street,"  who  reasons  always  a  priori. 

Such  was  the  general  situation  when  the  General  re- 
turned to  Washington  in  midsummer,   1833,  ^"<^  made 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  317 

known  his  plans  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Will- 
iam J.  Duane.  This  gentleman  was  the  son  of  William 
Duane,  editor  of  the  Aurora,  a  Jackson  paper  published 
in  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Duane  was  the  third  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  thus  far  in  Jackson's  administrations.  He 
agreed  with  the  President  on  the  general  principle  in- 
volved, but  did  not  coincide  with  his  views  as  to  the 
proper  procedure.  He  debated  the  subject  earnestly,  ably 
and  respectfully,  refused  to  be  convinced  by  Jackson,  and 
was  dismissed  from  office.  Attorney-General  Taney  was 
made  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
of  New  York,  was  named  to  succeed  him  as  Attorney- 
General.  By  this  stroke  Jackson  acquired  a  secretary 
of  the  Treasury  who  would  carry  out  his  plans  and  an 
attorney-general  wdio  would  find  law  for  them  if  any 
were  needed. 

The  President  was  now  master  of  the  situation  at  all 
points.  He  had  removed  every  obstacle  to  his  plan  and 
his  power  was  absolute.  The  government  ceased  to  de- 
posit moneys  in  the  United  States  Bank  the  ist  of  Octo- 
ber. On  that  date  the  Bank  held  nearly  ten  millions 
of  public  money  ($9,891,767),  to  be  drawn  out  as  the 
needs  of  the  government  might  require.  The  Bank,  after 
considerable  discussion  among  its  officials,  in  which  some 
diversities  of  opinion  as  to  the  best  course  to  be  pursued 
were  developed,  adopted  the  rational  plan  of  going  ahead 
as  usual,  and  resolved  to  curtail  its  loans  only  in  ratio 
of  the  decrease  in  public  deposits  on  hand  as  they  might 
be  drawn  out  from  time  to  time. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  the  Twenty-third 
Congress  met,  December  2,  1833.  By  that  time,  though 
only  two  months  had  elapsed  since  the  application  of 
Jackson's  plan,  at  least  one  of  his  theories  had  been  proved 


3i8       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

to  be  erroneous.  The  Bank's  solvency  was  considered 
by  the  general  public  as  an  established  fact.  General 
Jackson  had  not  altered  his  own  opinion  on  that  point, 
but  the  financial  world  was  satisfied.  In  fact,  taking 
the  parent  Bank  and  its  branches  together,  the  public 
deposits  had  for  many  years  constituted  an  inconsider- 
able share  of  their  current  business.  The  prestige  of 
being  the  government's  fiscal  agency  had  long  been  far 
more  valuable  than  its  actual  patronage.  The  veto  of 
the  re-charter  bill  in  the  session  of  1832  had  prepared 
the  financial  world  for  the  event  now  under  considera- 
tion, and  therefore  its  effect  upon  the  stability  of  the 
Bank  had  been  calculated  and  discounted  long  before  the 
actual  cessation  of  public  deposits  occurred. 

In  the  Twenty-third  Congress  the  Bank  and  its 
friends  made  no  effort  to  revive  the  movement  for  re- 
charter.  The  Senate  would  pass  a  bill  for  that  purpose 
as  it  had  done  before.  But  the  House,  as  it  stood  nor- 
mally, would  not,  and  the  Bank  knew  that  any  attempt 
to  overcome  the  majority  opposed  to  it  in  that  body 
would  be  futile.  This  was  another  disappointment  to 
General  Jackson.  He  had  expected  that  the  Bank,  pos- 
sessing the  Senate  by  a  sure  majority,  would  attempt 
to  buy  a  preponderance  in  the  House,  and  thus  pass  a 
new  bill,  to  give  him  the  opportunity  of  another  veto. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  General  even  expected 
that  the  Bank  would  undertake  the  desperate  task  of 
'^Duying"  a  two-thirds  majority  in  both  branches  to  over- 
ride a  veto.  It  may  be  dif^cult  to  comprehend  how  so 
sagacious  a  politician  as  he  was  could  entertain  such 
a  wild  notion ;  but  when  we  reflect  that  so  experienced 
a  parliamentary  general  as  Benton  at  first  shared  the 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  319 

President's  delusion,  the  marvel  is  to  some  extent  dissi- 
pated. The  only  hypothesis  on  which  such  a  preposter- 
ous expectation  can  be  explained  is  that  the  violence  of 
the  passions  roused  had  obscured  or  completely  upset 
the  judgment  not  only  of  Jackson — which  was  compara- 
tively easy  to  do — but  of  Benton  himself,  a  much  cooler, 
calmer  and  less  vehement  man. 

At  the  start,  almost  the  only  one  of  the  ultra  anti- 
Bank  group  who  did  not  anticipate  aggressive  tactics 
on  the  part  of  the  Bank  was  Senator  Hill.  He  steadily 
maintained  that  the  Bank  and  its  friends  would  resort 
to  guerilla  tactics.  "They  will  appeal  from  the  Pres- 
ident to  the  people  the  moment  Congress  organizes,"  he 
said  to  Benton,  Blair  and  Kendall  the  last  week  in  No- 
vember. "Like  a  badger  in  combat  with  a  bull-dog, 
they  will  fight  by  choice  from  the  under  side!  They 
will  not  try  to  use  their  teeth  on  the  administration's 
throat,  but  will  endeavor  to  disembowel  it  with  their 
hind  claws!" 

A  week  after  this  prophecy  Congress  met.  Within 
four  weeks  Clay  introduced  his  resolutions  censuring  the 
President  for  stopping  the  deposits ;  and  w^th  that  the 
fight  began.  Debate  on  Clay's  resolutions  was  led  on 
the  Bank  side  by  Clay  and  Calhoun ;  the  coalition  of  two 
antipodes,  united  by  common  hatred  of  Jackson  alone, 
as  we  have  observed  elsewhere.  John  Randolph,  as  has 
already  been  noted,  had  described  the  alliance  of  Clay 
and  Adams  in  1825  as  "the  coalition  of  Blifil  and  Black 
George;  the  Puritan  and  the  Blackleg!"  and  a  bloodless 
meeting  at  Bladensburg  convinced  those  who  understood 
the  game  either  that  Clay  couldn't  shoot  straight  or  that 
Randolph   didn't  want  to — or  both.      Now   Isaac   Hill 


320       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

characterized  the  coparceny  of  Clay  and  Calhoun  as  "a 
limited  partnership  between  the  Braggart  and  the  Black- 
guard, in  which  each  looked  for  all  the  profits  as  his 
own  share."  But  Hill  was  not  considered  worth  a  charge 
of  powder  and  ball  by  Clay,  and,  if  we  may  believe 
Jackson's  estimate  of  Calhoun,  he  had  no  use  for  cold 
lead  under  any  circumstance — "the  only  South  Caro- 
linian I  ever  heard  of  who  won't  fight,"  as  he  used  to 
say. 

The  debate  on  Clay's  resolutions  lasted  from  the  26th 
of  December  till  the  i8th  of  March.  Its  tone  and  char- 
acter utterly  beggar  description.  Every  rule  of  decorum 
between  co-ordinate  branches  of  the  government  was  sus- 
pended or  thrown  aside.  Every  tenet  of  senatorial  cour- 
tesy w^as  abrogated.  The  Senate  resolved  itself  into 
what  may  be  fitly  characterized  as  a  bear-pit  or  a  bull- 
ring. 

Clay  had  cleared  the  ground  for  this  kind  of  a  fight 
at  the  outset  of  the  session  by  passing  a  bill  to  divide 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public  lands  among  the 
States  in  which  the  lands  were  situate.  It  was  one  of 
the  most  unadulterated  pieces  of  demagoguery  ever  in- 
vented. The  Senate  passed  it  by  the  usual  anti-Jackson 
majority  because  it  was  Clay's  bill.  It  passed  the  House 
because  the  Jackson  Democrats  who  came  from  States 
that  would  be  benefited  by  it  dared  not  vote  against  it. 
Jackson,  of  course,  vetoed  it.  The  whole  object  was  to 
demoralize  the  Jackson  or  anti-Bank  majority  in  the 
House,  and  to  undermine  Jackson's  strength  in  the  States 
affected  by  it.  It  was  the  shyster  masquerading  in  the 
Senator's  toga.  It  was  ''tavern  politics  in  the  most 
august  legislative  body  on  earth,"  as  Senator  Forsyth. 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  321 

of  Georgia,  said,  notwithstanding  that  his  own  State 
would  have  had  a  large  share  of  the  proceeds.  On  the 
heels  of  such  a  preliminary  skirmish.  Clay  opened  his 
real  battle  with  the  resolutions  of  censure. 

The  debate  had  not  progressed  far  before  the  real 
purpose  of  Clay  and  Calhoun  became  apparent.  Their 
object  was  to  create  an  industrial  and  commercial  panic 
in  the  hope  of  driving  the  country  to  desperation.  Every 
speech  they  or  their  satellites  made  was  artfully  devised, 
not  so  much  to  censure  the  cessation  of  deposits  as  to 
alarm  the  business  community.  Clay's  object  was  simply 
to  injure  Jackson.  To  effect  that  he  was  willing  to 
jeopardize,  if  not  destroy,  the  industrial  fabric  of  which 
he  himself  had  been  the  architect.  Calhoun's  purpose 
was  double.  He  shared  Clay's  enmity  to  Jackson  and 
desire  to  destroy  him.  To  that  Calhoun  added  the  deadly 
hatred  that  South  Carolina  then  and  ever  afterward 
bore  to  the  industrial  North,  and  the  consequent  mania 
to  wTeck  it.  For  such  reasons  and  on  such  common 
ground  the  apostle  of  central  government  and  of  a  pro- 
tective tariff  strove  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  apostle 
of  Nullification  and  of  free  trade.  "Not  the  least  of 
Jackson's  glories,"  thundered  Benton,  ''is  that  his  up- 
rightness is  so  known  of  all  men  that  the  high  priests 
of  two  heresies,  damnable  alike  to  each  other  and  to 
good  men  at  large,  are  forced  by  a  common  turpitude 
to  coalesce  against  him!" 

In  the  whole  debate,  lasting  nearly  three  months,  but 
one  temperate  speech  was  made  in  support  of  Clay's 
resolutions.  It  was  Webster's.  He  confined  himself 
mainly  to  the  law  involved,  argued  upon  the  contract 
relations  between  the  government  and  the  Bank  inherent 
Vol.  II.— 21 


322       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

in  the  charter  of  1816,  deprecated  personal  debate,  re- 
gretted that  the  majority  in  the  Senate  should  have 
selected  the  pending  mode  of  approaching  the  subject — 
by  resolution  of  censure — dissented  from  ''certain  reflec- 
tions which  had  been  heard  upon  the  motives  of  the 
Chief  Executive,"  and  finally  offered  as  an  all-round 
compromise  a  proposition  to  re-charter  the  Bank  for  six 
years,  'Svith  certain  additional  muniments  for  safety  of 
the  public  funds,  calculated  to  disarm  certain  plausible 
objections  urged  elsewhere";  and  that  "such  re-charter 
be  viewed  as  a  relief  from  destructive  agitation  pending 
mature  consideration  by  Congress  of  a  fiscal  system 
removed  from  party  strife." 

Calhoun  and  Clay  opposed  this.  The  former  wanted 
the  Bank  re-chartered  for  twelve  years,  on  the  same  terms 
as  those  of  18 16 — which,  by  the  way,  he  had  supported 
as  a  member  of  the  House'  at  that  time.  Clay  would 
accept  no  compromise  whatever.  He  did  not  want  the 
situation  changed.  He  had  set  out  to  produce  a  panic 
and,  of  course,  any  kind  of  compromise  must  balk  his 
design.     Therefore,  Webster's  proposition  was  set  aside. 

Webster  seems  to  have  believed  that  the  President 
might  adopt  his  scheme.  He  remarked  that  the  Pres- 
ident would  not  have  to  go  so  far  out  of  his  way  to  do 
that  as  he  had  already  gone  when  he  signed  the  com- 
promise tariff  bill  two  years  before  to  appease  South 
Carolina  and  avert  civil  war.  "If  he  would  do  that  to 
avert  civil  war,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "certainly  he  could 
accept  my  proposal  for  the  sake  of  averting  possible  or 
probable  financial  convulsion." 

Mr.  McLane,  Mr.  Woodbury  and  Mr.  Butler,  of  Jack- 
son's Cabinet,  who  were  personal  friends  of  Mr.  Webster 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  323 

— and  also  Benton — made  known  to  General  Jackson  the 
views — or  the  hopes — of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts. 

"Very  well,  gentlemen,"  said  the  General,  ''you  may 
say  to  Mr.  Webster,  with  my  compliments,  that  I  am 
ready  to  join  him  in  providing,  as  he  himself  says,  for 
a  fiscal  system  removed  from  party  strife.  But  there  is 
only  one  such  system  possible,  gentlemen.  That  is  the 
coin  system!  the  specie  system!  all  hard  money!  No 
bank-notes!  No  promises  to  pay!  Any  other  system 
must  come  within  the  range  of  party  strife.  And  you 
may  further  say  to  Mr.  Webster,  with  my  renewed  com- 
pliments, that  I  shall  be  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  dis- 
cuss the  subject  with  him  on  that  basis  as  freely  as  I 
discuss  it  with  you." 

It  is  believed  that  Benton  conveyed  to  Webster  the 
substance  of  the  foregoing,  but  the  Missouri  Senator 
does  not  mention  it  in  his  Thirty  Years.  Governor  Allen, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  House  at  that  time,  told  the 
author  many  years  afterward  that  Mr.  Webster  received 
the  President's  views — he  thought  from  Colonel  Benton. 
But  of  course  nothing  came  of  it.  The  President's  posi- 
tion was  as  impracticable  as  that  of  Clay  and  Calhoun 
was  obdurate.  In  fact,  it  is  unnecessary  to  remark  that 
Jackson's  idea  of  an  all-coin  or  all-specie  system  was 
incompatible  with  civilized  methods  of  business.  Paper 
money — or  rather  paper  representation  of  money — is  as 
indispensable  to  the  finance  and  commerce  of  civilization 
as  dishes  are  to  a  dinner-table.  Nobody  eats  the  dishes, 
but  no  one  can  eat  decently  without  them.  And  the 
higher  and  more  intricate  the  civilized  social  fabric,  the 
more  indispensable  the  paper  representation  becomes. 

Soon  after  this  the  Clay  resolutions  of  censure  passed 


324       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

— 26  to  20.  Two  Jackson  Democrats  neither  voted  nor 
paired.  One  was  absent  without  pair,  and  one  Bank 
Democrat  voted  with  Clay. 

The  Senate  then  rested  from  its  mighty  travail  of 
billingsgate  until  the  4th  of  April,  when  General  Jack- 
son sent  in  a  protest  against  the  censure,  declaring  it 
to  be  an  unprecedented  *  invasion  of  the  rights  of  one 
co-ordinate  branch  of  the  government  by  another,  inti- 
mating that  the  Constitution  provided  the  only  methods 
by  which  one  branch  could  take  punitive  jurisdiction 
over  another,  and  asking  that  the  protest  be  entered  on 
the  journal.  Then  the  flood-gates  of  vituperation  were 
reopened  wide.  The  President's  protest  was  a  god- 
send to  Calhoun  and  Clay.  When  the  resolutions  of 
censure  passed,  their  programme  for  a  panic  was  not 
quite  complete.  The  protest  enabled  them  to  finish  it. 
The  renewed  debate — or  ra'ther  the  second  wrangle — 
lasted  until  early  in  May,  when  the  Senate,  by  vote  of 
2y  to  16,  declared  that  there  was  no  warrant  in  the 
Constitution  for  executive  communication  to  the  legis- 
lative branch  in  that  form — which  was,  and  is,  true. 

While  the  Senate  was  belying  its  name  and  expunging 
its  traditions  by  this  prolonged  brawl,  a  contest  hardly 
less  deplorable  in  kind,  though  not  quite  so  infamous  in 
purpose,  went  on  in  the  House.  The  greater  decorum  in 
that  body  was  due  to  the  quality  of  the  opposing  leaders. 
The  head  of  the  Jackson  majority  in  the  House  was 
James  K.  Polk;  that  of  the  minority  favorable  to  the 
Bank  was,  of  course,  John  Ouincy  Adams — one  an  hon- 

*  In  his  first  draft  of  the  protest  the  President  used  the  word  "  iniquitous." 
Mr.  Woodbury,  Mr.  Butler  and  General  Cass  persuaded  him  to  change  it 
to  "unprecedented." 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  325 

ored  e:js^President,  the  other  a  President  to  be.  With  a 
few  exceptions,  hardly  worth  note,  the  tone  of  debate 
partook  of  the  character  of  those  who  led  it,  men  as 
distinguished  for  forensic  courtesy  as  for  parliamentary 
skill.  The  most  conspicuous  of  the  few  and  small  inde- 
cencies that  occurred  in  the  House  was  the  attempt  of 
a  Bank  man  from  New  Jersey  to  offer  a  resolution  of 
impeachment  against  the  President.  This  was  instantly 
disposed  of  on  a  point  of  order  from  Mr.  Adams  himself, 
sustained  by  the  chair,  and  the  farce  was  not  repeated. 
Curiously,  the  notes  which  the  member  from  New  Jersey 
had  prepared  for  a  speech  in  support  of  his  motion  fell 
to  the  floor,  and,  in  the  temporary  confusion  caused  by 
the  gathering  of  other  members  about  him,  were  picked 
up  by  one  of  the  Jackson  men.  He  gave  them  to  Mr. 
Blair,  who  showed  them  to  the  President  and  proposed 
to  print  them  verbatim  in  the  Globe.  But  the  President 
objected  to  this  on  the  ground  that  ''enough  of  opposi- 
tion scurrility  found  its  w^ay  into  print  through  the 
mouths  of  Calhoun  and  Clay  without  any  assistance 
from  newspapers  friendly  to  him." 

He  was,  however,  quite  exasperated  by  one  of  the 
''Notes,"  which  alleged  that  his  pretensions  to  have 
served  in  the  Revolution  were  false  and  invented  for 
political  effect.  When  he  read  this  he  pushed  his  hair 
aside  and  showed  to  Mr.  Blair  the  scar  of  the  wound 
made  by  the  British  officer's  sword,  saying:  "I  wonder 

if  the  d d  scoundrel  would  think  that  was  invented 

for  political  effect!" 

The  debate  in  the  House  resulted,  on  April  4th — after 
four  months  of  wasted  time — in  the  passage  of  four 
resolutions : 


326       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

1.  That  the  Bank  ought  not  to  be  re-chartered.  Car- 
ried by  134  to  82. 

2.  That  the  deposits  ought  not  to  be  restored  to  the 
Bank.     Carried  by  118  to  103. 

3.  That  the  State  banks  ought  to  remain  the  deposi- 
tories of  the  pubHc  money.     Carried  by  117  to  105. 

4.  That  a  further  investigation  of  the  Bank  be  or- 
dered, etc.     Carried  by  175  to  42. 

A  committee  of  investigation  under  the  fourth  resolu- 
tion was  ordered,  but  the  officials  of  the  Bank  refused 
to  submit  to  its  authority.  A  motion  declaring  the  pres- 
ident and  directors  of  the  Bank  to  be  in  contempt  of 
the  House  was  then  passed,  140  to  69,  but  it  was  never 
put  in  execution.  Mr.  Adams — who  had  voted  for  the 
motion — and  Edward  Everett  objected  to  further  con- 
tempt proceedings  pending  examination  and  report  upon 
the  provisions  of  the  charter*  relating  to  an  examination 
of  the  Bank's  books  and  papers  on  behalf  of  the  govern- 
ment; and  as  this  was  likely  to  delay  action  until  ad- 
journment, the  matter  was  dropped.  In  an  informal 
conversation  on  the  floor,  Mr.  Adams  suggested  that 
the  officials  of  the  Bank  would  undoubtedly  find  a  way 
to  bring  the  question,  if  pressed,  before  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  Mr.  Polk  then  admitted  that  such  delay  must 
defeat  the  object  of  the  House,  so  far  as  the  immediate 
production  of  the  documents  was  concerned,  and  there- 
fore the  record  of  having  carried  the  motion  of  contempt 
was  all  that  seemed  practicable  or  necessary  at  that  stage 
of  the  session.  He  then,  on  behalf  of  the  majority, 
agreed  to  let  it  go  over  without  prejudice. 

Pending  all  these  proceedings,  however,  the  panic- 
plans  of  Clay  and  Calhoun  materialized.     About  April, 


WAR    WITH    THE    BANK  327 

1834,  industrial  and  commercial  houses  in  the  Eastern 
and  Middle  States  began  to  suspend.  The  whole  ener- 
gies of  Congress  for  over  five  months — December  loth 
to  May  24th — had  been  consumed  in  debate,  expressly 
designed  and  shaped  by  the  anti-administration  party  to 
alarm  the  people.  The  natural  results  followed.  Mer- 
chants cut  down  their  orders.  Manufacturers  reduced 
their  forces  or  suspended  work  in  their  mills.  The  State 
banks  narrowed  their  accommodations  or  called  in  their 
loans.  The  United  States  Bank  itself,  though  in  theory 
professing  to  curtail  loans  only  in  ratio  of  the  drafts 
against  the  public  funds  still  in  its  vaults,  effected  in  fact 
a  curtailment  by  withdrawing  its  notes  from  circula- 
tion or  hoarding  specie  for  their  redemption,  on  the 
pretext  that  unless  the  charter  was  renewed  it  would 
be  compelled  to  wind  up  its  business  by  March  4,  1836. 
We  use  the  word  '^pretext,"  for  a  reason  which  will 
soon  be  noted. 

Under  these  conditions  a  torrent  of  petitions  began 
to  pour  into  the  White  House  and  Congress  early  in 
the  spring  of  1834.  "Let  them  come!"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Clay,  his  frenzy  of  exultation  overpowering  his  caution. 
'The  more  the  better!" 

'T  suppose  the  Senator  means,"  retorted  Isaac  Hill, 
with  his  exasperating  New  Hampshire  drawl,  ''that  the 
farther  prosperity  gets  from  the  people,  the  nearer  he 
will  get  to  the  presidency!  He  reminds  me  of  a  worth- 
less son  of  a  wealthy  father  up  in  my  country  who,  upon 
celebrating  the  funeral  of  his  grandfather,  rubbed  his 
hands  and  congratulated  himself  that  but  one  more  death 
in  the  family  was  needed  to  make  him  rich — that  he 
now  had  only  to  wait  for  the  old  man,  who  was  already 


328        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

pretty  far  gone  with  consumption!"  The  Senate 
smiled. 

Clay's  response  is  not  of  record.  He  had  learned  to 
evade  personal  debate  with  Hill. 

The  President,  knowing  well  that  these  petitions  were 
the  result  of  an  artificial  panic  deliberately  created  by 
Clay  and  Calhoun,  very  soon  refused  to  receive  them 
or  their  bearers.  A\'hen  delegations  came  to  present  them 
he  would  say :  "The  executive  branch  of  the  government 
has  nothing  to  do  with  petitions,  except  those  of  con- 
victed criminals  praying  for  pardon.  Take  these  petitions 
to  the  Senate  and  offer  them  to  Henry  Clay  and  John 
C.  Calhoun.  Pray  them  to  cease  lying  to  you  and  mis- 
leading you.  Beseech  them  to  undo  the  mischief  they 
have  done." 

About  this  time  the  General  received  three  or  four 
anonymous  letters  threatening,  his  assassination  if  he  did 
not  instantly  restore  the  deposits  to  the  United  States 
Bank.  They  annoyed  him,  but  he  did  not  believe  them 
to  be  genuine.  He  thought  that  they  were  sent  by  harm- 
less persons  in  a  spirit  of  malicious  mischief — which  was 
doubtless  true.  The  Clay-Calhoun  panic,  however,  \v-as 
short-lived.  The  State  banks  selected  as  depositories 
soon  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  money  market.  This 
forced  the  United  States  Bank  to  disgorge  or  fall  behind. 
It  disgorged.  Mr.  Biddle  was  beaten  at  his  owai  game. 
By  the  ist  of  July  the  ''panic"  gave  place  to  a  revival 
of  activity  in  all  branches  of  trade,  industry  and  finance. 
More  and  more  the  State  banks  forced  Mr.  Biddle's 
hand. 


CHAPTER   XII 

FOREIGN    AFFAIRS    AND    RETIREMENT 

Congress  adjourned  the  30th  of  June.  It  had  worse 
than  wasted  seven  months.  The  President's  pohcy,  pre- 
cipitate and  ill-considered  as  it  may  have  been  in  some 
respects,  was  at  least  vindicated  by  events.  The  tre- 
mendous energies  of  the  people  were  at  his  back,  and 
they  saved  him  while  they  confused  his  foes.  Never  in 
the  history  of  the  country  had  so  base  a  coparceny  dis- 
solved in  such  shame  as  that  of  Clay  and  Calhoun.  Never 
before  had  such  honest  blundering  as  that  of  General 
Jackson  been  so  triumphantly  turned  to  good  account 
by  the  resistless  forces  of  the  people.  Again  he  had 
wrung  victory  from  the  jaws  of  defeat  and  laid  low 
his  enemies  at  the  moment  when  they  imagined  success 
was  assured.  Major  William  B.  Lewis,  his  nearest 
friend,  had  originally  been  apprehensive  that  the  sudden 
and  almost  violent  change  of  fiscal  policy  would  be  dis- 
astrous. He  did  not  believe  the  removal  of  the  deposits 
— or  rather  the  manner  in  which  it  was  done — would 
prove  wise.  When  the  panic  of  Calhoun  and  Clay  be- 
gan, the  good  major  was  in  distress.  He  feared  that 
"they  had  got  the  'Old  Man'  down  at  last,"  and  told 
Blair  so.  Of  course,  Mr.  Blair  told  the  General.  But 
the  latter  said  nothing  about  it  to  Major  Lewis  until  the 
flurry  was  all  over. 

Soon  after  Congress  adjourned  the  President,  accom- 

329 


330       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

panied  by  Mr.  Blair,  Congressman  Allen,  of  Ohio,  ]\Iajor 
Lewis  and  other  intimate  friends — a  party  that  filled 
twQ  special  stage-coaches — started  for  the  West.  Sen- 
ator Benton  and  General  Cass  were  also  of  the  party. 
As  they  journeyed  along  they  saw  every  evidence  of 
activity  and  prosperity.  Arrived  at  Pittsburg,  the  same 
signs  of  public  welfare  appeared,  but  in  a  still  greater 
degree.  After  they  boarded  the  steamboat  and  started 
down  the  Ohio,  Jackson  and  Benton  sat  together  on  the 
upper  deck  talking  things  over.  Major  Lewis  and  Mr. 
Allen  joined  them.  The  General,  with  a  slight  nod  of 
the  head  toward  Lewis  and  a  wink  at  Benton,  began 
in  the  most  solemn  manner : 

"Senator,  the  appearance  of  the  country  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  people  are  most  gratifying;  don't  you 
think  so?" 

"Unquestionably,  General.  'We  are  just  beginning  to 
see  the  effects  of  your  wise  policy." 

"Not  a  doubt  of  it,  sir.  It  gives  me  a  pleasure  that 
I  cannot  describe  in  words,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  the 
country  but  also  because  it  will  reassure  some  very  dear 
friends  of  mine  who,  a  short  time  ago,  began  to  mourn." 

"What  were  they  mourning  about.  General?"  asked 
Benton. 

"They  mourned,"  replied  the  General,  with  a  simulated 
air  of  dejection,  "because  they  thought  that  Clay  and 
Calhoun  had  got  the  Old  Man  down  at  last!" 

"See  here.  General,"  interrupted  Lewis,  "you  can 
make  all  the  fun  of  me  you  please.  You're  on  top  now. 
But  you  must  admit  that  I  stood  by  you  faithfully." 

"Very  well,  William.  But  you  know  the  story  about 
the  old  man  up  the  tree  when  his  wife  was  having  the 


FOREIGN    AFFAIRS    AND    RETIREMENT     331 

tussle  with  the  bear.     'Stick  to  'im,  Sal!'  cried  the  old 
man  up  the  tree.     T'll  never  desert  you!'  " 

This  closed  the  incident,  said  Governor  Allen,  who 
related  the  anecdote  to  the  author.  But  Major  Lewis 
was,  if  possible,  more  modest  than  usual  during  the 
rest  of  the  journey  to  Nashville. 

One  day,  when  the  boat  was  nearing  the  mouth  of  the 
Cumberland,  where  Benton  was  to  leave  the  party,  en 
route  to  St.  Louis,  the  General  said  to  him :  ''Senator, 
I  have  been  thinking  about  the  last  session  of  Congress, 
and  trying  to  remember  a  Latin  phrase  that,  in  my  mind, 
describes  it  exactly.  All  I  can  call  to  mind  is  that  the 
first  word  of  the  phrase  I  want  is  'Vox'— like  'Vox 
popiili'  you  know." 

'T   presume,    General,   you   mean   'Vox,   et  prceterea 

nihil/  " 

"Yes,  yes;  that's   it,   that's   it.     What   is   the   exact 

translation.  Senator?" 

"Why,  General,  literally  it  means  *Voice,  and  nothing 

else.'  " 

"Oh,  is  that  all?     I  thought  it  meant  'Wind,  and  a 

devil  of  a  lot  of  it!'  " 

The  General  was  right.  If  there  was  ever  a  session 
deserving  to  pass  into  history  by  that  name,  the  first 
session  of  the  Twenty-third  Congress  was  it;  par  excel- 
lence the  session  of  Vox,  et  prcBterea  nihil. 

General  Jackson's  visit  to  his  home  in  the  summer  of 
1834  was  the  pleasantest  thus  far  during  the  five  years 
of  his  presidency.  He  seemed  to  think  that  the  remain- 
ing years  and  months  of  his  second  term  would  be  peace- 
ful.    Nullification,  he  thought,  was  at  least  scotched,  if 


232       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

not  killed.  Of  course  he  could  not  foresee  what  must 
come  as  soon  as  slavery  should  take  the  place  of  the 
tariff  as  a  casus  belli  between  South  Carolina  and  the 
Union.  The  Bank  war  was  over.  The  question  of  re- 
moving the  Indians  toward  the  setting  sun  was  adjusted. 
The  Indians  had  left  their  old  homes  and  hunting-grounds 
sadly,  it  is  true,  but,  he  believed,  on  the  w^hole  satisfied. 
He  had  told  them  that,  in  all  the  history  of  the  white 
men,  leaving  their  old  homes  and  making  new  ones  had 
been  the  signal  of  their  deliverance  from  bondage,  of 
their  progress  and  of  their  power.  As  for  the  tariff, 
it  was  an  infernal  mess  anyhow,  and  he  had  long  ago 
reached  a  point  of  philosophic  resignation  at  which  he 
was  ready  to  sign  any  tariff  bill  Congress  might  pass 
and  let  Congress  take  the  responsibility.  This  he  had 
done  from  the  beginning  and  this  he  w^ould  do  to  the 
end.  He  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  his  policy  with  regard 
to  the  public  lands.  His  idea  of  limiting  the  sale  of 
them  to  actual  settlers  only,  in  tracts  of  not  more  than 
a  section  (640  acres)  at  a  time,  and  at  the  maximum, 
not  more  than  three  sections  (1,920  acres)  in  three 
different  transactions  and  at  prices  equal  only  to  the 
cost  of  surveying  and  advertising,  contained  the  germ 
of  the  great  Homestead  Law-  of  later  years,  and  it  would 
stop  land  speculation — which  he  abominated.  The  only 
subjects  which  he  viewed  as  unsettled  in  the  summer 
of  1834  were  matters  of  foreign  relation.  The  delay  of 
France  in  providing  for  payment  of  the  Spoliation  Claims 
already  agreed  upon  in  definitive  treaty,  duly  ratified, 
worried  him ;  but  he  was  sure  that  he  and  the  land  that 
had  given  birth  to  Lafayette  could  never  come  to  blows. 
The  Northwest  Boundary  issue  had  been  postponed  for 


FOREIGN    AFFAIRS    AND    RETIREMENT     333 

a  period  of  years  by  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams, 
and  the  tentative  agreement  would  not  expire  until  his 
official  term  was  ended. 

Still  he  did  not  like  the  prospect  of  leaving  that  great 
question  open  when  he  should  vacate  the  White  House. 
He  distrusted  England  and  he  feared  that  the  skill,  art 
and  cunning  of  British  diplomatists  might  overreach  his 
successors— which  they  did.  But,  on  the  whole,  he  was 
content  with  the  situation  as  it  stood  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  his  summer  at  the  Hermitage  in  1834  was  a  happy 

one. 

One  morning  he  said  to  his  guest,  Representative 
Allen :  ''See  here,  William,  that's  a  bad  district  of  yours 
up  there  in  Ohio.  You  know  you  carried  it  by  only 
one  majority  two  years  ago.  You're  mighty  good  com- 
pany and  I  don't  want  to  hurry  you  off;  but,  really, 
don't  you  think  it's  about  time  for  you  to  get  up  there 
and  go  to  work?  They  may  steal  it  right  out  from 
under  your  feet  if  you  neglect  it.  I  wouldn't  like  to 
think  that  you  lost  it  by  staying  here  and  amusing  me." 

Early  the  next  morning  the  General  took  Mr.  Allen 
in  his  carriage  to  Nashville  and  put  him  aboard  the  boat 
for  home— to  his  ''bad  district"  and,  as  it  proved,  to 
defeat.* 

*  Governor  Allen  used  to  describe  his  fate  in  this  campaign  inimitably  : 
"The  Hermitage  was  to  me  what  Capua  was  to  Hannibal.  The 
General  let  me  stay  too  long.  When  I  got  home  they  had  me  down  and 
thev  kept  me  down.  My  opponent,  Bill  Bond,  was  an  orator,  a  wit  and  a 
practical  joker  ;  also  a  capital  good  fellow.  I  at  once  saw  that  the  battle 
was  going  against  me,  but  I  stripped  to  the  buff  and  went  in.  I  hterally 
tramped  the  district.  But  I  soon  found  that  it  was  one  thing  to  run  on  the 
ticket  with  Jackson  as  I  did  in  1832,  and  another  thing  to  run  alone  as  I 
had  to  in  1834.  The  district  was  naturally  Whig  by  from  800  to  1,000. 
I  had  carried  it  by  one  vote  in  1832.     If  the  election  had  been  held  the 


334       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

In  October  the  General  himself  left  the  Hermitage 
and  returned  by  easy  stages  to  Washington.  To  his 
great  joy,  the  boat  he  took  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cumber- 
land had  Benton  on  board,  also  en  route  to  the  Capital, 
and  so  he  was  sure  of  good  company  the  rest  of  the 
way.  Singularly,  at  Carrollton,  William  O.  Butler 
boarded  their  boat,  bound  for  Pittsburg  and  Washing- 
ton, on  business  in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  thus  another 
most  welcome  companion  was  added  to  his  little  party. 
The  voyage  was  without  event.  They  stopped  over  one 
boat  at  Cincinnati,  stayed  a  day  or  two  in  Pittsburg,  and 
reached  Washington  early  in  November.  Benton  went 
to  Virginia,  where  his  wife  had  passed  the  summer  at 
her  father's  house,  and  Major  Butler,  after  vain  expostu- 

day  I  got  home  I  would  have  been  beaten  at  least  1,200.  But  I  fairly 
ploughed  up  the  ground.  I  was  young  and  strong  and  could  electioneer 
sixteen  hours  and  travel  the  other  eight,  out  of  every  twenty-four.  I  visited 
the  farm-houses,  dandled  the  babies  on  my  knee,  kissed  the  girls  and 
played  '  town-ball '  with  the  boys.  I  spoke  in  every  school-house,  at  every 
tavern  and  at  most  of  the  cross-roads  ! 

"  Bill  Bond  got  up  a  wretched  story  at  the  expense  of  my  eloquence. 
He  said  I  was  a  natural  orator  ;  couldn't  help  it ;  made  speeches  in  my 
sleep  !  He  said  I  could  just  wind  up  my  voice  like  a  clock  and  then  go 
away  and  leave  it  there — it  would  make  a  speech  just  the  same.  During 
the  canvass  a  poor  fellow  was  hanged  at  one  of  the  county-seats.  Bill 
Bond  said  I  happened  to  be  there  and  the  sheriff  invited  me  to  a  place  on 
the  platform  of  the  gallows.  He  said  that,  at  the  last  moment,  the  sheriff 
asked  the  doomed  man  if  he  desired  to  say  anything  before  being  launched 
into  eternity.  The  poor  wretch  shook  his  head.  Then  Bill  Bond  said  I 
stepped  forward  and  remarked  to  the  sheriff  : 

"  *  Mr.  Chairman,  if  the  gentleman  will  yield  his  time  to  me,  I  will  em- 
brace the  opportunity  to  address  the  people  upon  the  issues  of  the  hour!' 

"  Of  course  it  was  an  infernal  lie  out  of  the  whole  cloth.  The  only  element 
of  truth  about  it  was  that  an  execution  occurred  during  the  canvass.  But 
I  was  not  within  forty  miles  of  it.  Besides,  the  story  itself  was  one  got  up 
years  before  on  Felix  Grundy,  of  Tennessee  ;  and  Bill  Bond  simply  re- 
vamped it  to  put  the  laugh  on  me.  I  got  it  !  Such  were  Whig  tactics  in 
those  days.  But  I  had  my  revenge.  That  defeat  for  the  House  in  1834  was 
the  means  of  electing  me  to  the  Senate  in  1836 — and  I  beat  Bill  Bond,  too." 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT  335 

lation,  was  compelled  to  accept  bed  and  board  in  the 
White  House,  where  he  and  his  old  commander  could 
fiaht  their  battles  over  again  without  fear  of  mterrup- 
tion  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Butler  suggested  a 
reconciliation  with  Mr.  Clay,  remarking,  as  he  did  so, 
that  he  and  Benton  had  made  up,  and  if  he  could  forgive 
Benton's  bullet  he  ought  to  pardon  Clay's  tongue. 

General  Jackson  looked  his  beloved  old  aide-de-camp 
of  New  Orleans  straight  in  the  eye  for  a  full  minute. 
Then  he  said,  slowly  and  gently :  "William,  my  dear  old 
friend  you  don't  understand  the  difference.  There 
wasn't  any  poison  on  Benton's  bullet!     It  was  honest 

lead!" 

Butler  never  mentioned  the  subject  to  him  again. 
A  whole  dissertation  on  Jackson's  character  was  epito- 
mized in  that  withering  comment.    In  relating  the  anec- 
dote,  General  Butler   said  he  never   saw  exactly   such 
another  expression  on  a  human  countenance  as  Jackson's 
wore  when  he  uttered  those  words.     It  demonstrated 
to  him  that  the  only  manner  in  which  the  General  wished 
to  meet  Mr.  Clay  face  to  face  was  at  ten  paces,  and  that 
he  never  to  his  dying  day  would  consent  to  meet  him 
otherwise.     General  Butler  further  observed  that  Clay 
was  peculiarly  constituted  in  that  respect.    He  was  quick 
enough  to  take  personal  offence  at  the  words  of  others, 
but  he  could  not  see  why  his  own,  uttered  in  what  he 
considered  purely  and  legitimately  political  debate,  should 
be  mortally  resented,  as  Jackson  resented  them.    On  one 
occasion,  when  a  particularly  bitter  phrase  of  Clay's  in 
the  Senate  was  reported  to  him,  he  exclaimed :  "Oh,  that 
I  had  off  these  robes  of  office!"    He  said  no  more.     "I 
am  perfectly  sure."  concluded  General  Butler,  "that  Jack- 


2^6       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

son  never  for  a  moment  was  sorry  that  he  killed  Charles 
Dickinson.  And  I  am  equally  certain  that  he  died  sorry 
because  he  could  never  get  a  chance  to  kill  Henry  Clay." 

At  this  distance  and  in  the  mellower  spirit  of  our  time 
it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  fathom  such  a  char- 
acter or  to  comprehend  such  impulses.  But  they  were 
as  natural  and  as  unavoidable  to  Jackson  as  hunger  or 
thirst  or  the  desire  to  repose  when  sleepy.  Clay  had  a 
habit  of  saying  bitter  things  in  speeches,  alike  in  Con- 
gress and  ''on  the  stump,"  when  speaking  extempore — 
which  he  usually  did — and  then  carefully  expunging 
them  from  the  printed  reports.  Calhoun  had  the  same 
habit.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  had  foully  aspersed 
Jackson  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate,  he  went  so  far  in 
eating  his  words  as  to  dispute  the  accuracy  of  the  official 
reporter.  That  was  the  occasion  on  which  Jackson  com- 
pressed into  one  sentence  a'll  the  savage  contempt  his 
fierce  soul  was  capable  of  in  the  declaration  that  "Calhoun 
was  the  only  South  Carolinian  he  ever  heard  of  who 
w^ouldn't  fight."  He  was  never  known  to  call  Clay  a 
poltroon.  But  he  seldom  spoke  of  Calhoun  without  de- 
nouncing him  as  a  "cur,"  a  "sneak"  or  a  "miserable 
coward."  He  believed  that  Clay  would  fight  if  cor- 
nered. But  he  often  said  that  Calhoun  could  not  be 
driven  into  any  kind  of  a  fight  except  with  his  tongue, 
and  then  only  at  a  perfectly  safe  distance. 

On  the  occasion  just  referred  to.  when  Calhoun  raised 
a  question  of  accuracy  with  the  reporter  of  debate,  Jack- 
son had  written  him  a  scathing  note.  Calhoun  had  the 
clerk  read  the  note  in  open  Senate.  He  then  said  that 
it  "excited  in  his  bosom  only  pity  and  contempt  for  its 
author,"  etc.     When  Jackson  saw   the  report  of  these 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT    337 

remarks,  his  only  comment  was :  "Well,  what  is  to  be 
done  with  such  a  cur,  anyhow?"  Just  at  that  moment 
Benton  and  Forsyth  came  into  the  room.  Jackson  was 
sitting  at  the  breakfast-table.  He  called  their  attention 
to  the  report.  'T  am  helpless,  gentlemen,"  he  said.  "A 
President  cannot  chastise  a  Senator;  and,  even  if  he 
could,  he  would  have  to  find  him  on  the  street,  and 
there,  if  Calhoun  knew  danger  was  at  hand,  old  Trux- 
ton  himself  couldn't  catch  the  infernal  hound!" 

"General,  if  I  were  in  your  place,"  interposed  Senator 
Forsyth — himself  a  "fighting  man"  of  noted  prowess — 
"I  would  banish  the  sickening  subject  from  my  mind. 
You  are,  as  you  say,  helpless,  and  that's  all  there  is 
to  it." 

Benton  said  nothing.  Perhaps  vague  visions  of  an 
attempt  long  ago  to  "chastise,"  not  then  "a  Senator"  but 
a  man  who  afterward  became  one,  flitted  through  his 
memory.  Jackson  took  Forsyth's  advice.  The  affair 
was  dropped. 

The  last  year  and  a  half  of  the  General's  second  ad- 
ministration was  marked  by  but  one  event  of  great  im- 
portance, though  replete  with  incidents  of  secondary 
interest.  In  domestic  policy  his  principal  efforts  were 
bent  toward  keeping  down  the  surplus  which  the  won- 
derful and,  in  fact,  unhealthy  expansion  of  commerce  and 
land  speculation  forced  into  the  Treasury.  By  refusing 
to  adopt  his  public  land  policy  Congress  tied  his  hands 
as  against  the  land  speculators.  But  he  did  the  best  he 
could.  In  July,  1836,  he  issued  the  "specie  circular," 
which  was  an  order  to  all  Land  Offices  to  accept  only 
coin  or  bullion  in  payment  for  public  lands.     But  even 

this  had  an  unwholesome  effect.     It  caused  an  accumu- 
VoL.  II. — 22 


338       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

lation  of  specie  in  the  hands  of  the  government,  caused 
gold  to  be  drawn  from  the  East  to  the  West  and  im- 
pelled the  State  banks  to  issue  additional  paper  currency 
in  its  place.  The  result,  of  course,  was  a  still  further 
inflation  of  the  already  redundant  paper  currency,  which 
at  one  time  came  near  producing  suspension  of  specie 
payments. 

Another  remarkable  event  was  the  extinguishment  of 
the  national  debt  at  the  end  of  1834,  for  the  first  and 
last  time  in  the  history  of  this  country  or  of  any  other. 
This  consummation,  so  devoutly  wished  by  Jackson  in 
the  simplicity  of  his  financial  heart,  was  duly  celebrated 
by  a  grand  banquet,  with  the  usual  bewildering  number 
and  variety  of  toasts,  the  8th  of  January,  1835. 

During  the  spring  of  1834  there  was  a  little  flurry 
over  the  Oregon  Boundary  question.  An  inquiry  was 
made  in  the  House  of  Comnx)ns  at  the  instance  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  Company,  as  to  alleged  violations  of  the 
tentative  agreement  made  in  John  Quincy  Adams's  ad- 
ministration. The  alleged  violations  were  the  erection 
of  unauthorized  trading-posts  by  American  fur-traders 
within  the  territory  covered  by  the  agreement.  The  Hud- 
son's Bay  Company  had,  indeed,  violated  the  agreement 
right  along,  treating  it,  in  fact,  with  contempt  from  the 
start.  But,  in  the  true  spirit  of  English  patriotism,  they 
claimed  a  monopoly  of  the  right  to  violate  international 
agreements,  and  w^ere  quick  to  resent  even  the  symptom 
of  intent  to  infringe  that  right. 

As  we  have  already  remarked,  Jackson  had  long 
viewed  this  question  with  concern.  He  regarded  it  as 
an  ever-present  source  of  serious  dispute  and  trouble. 
In  his  mind,  it  was  a  potential  issue  held  by  England  in 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT 


339 


abeyance  over  our  heads,  to  be  sprung  upon  us  for  her 
own  advantage  whenever  we  might,  peradventure,  be- 
come embroiled  with  another  great  power.  The  ParHa- 
mentary  inquiry  was  not  in  itself  a  formidable  demon- 
stration. It  was  quietly  suppressed — as  was  said,  by  the 
influence  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington — and  no  further 
notice  was  taken  of  the  matter  by  the  British  Ministry. 
But  General  Jackson  became  restless  as  soon  as  he  heard 
of  the  inquiry. 

"That  Oregon  question  ought  to  have  been  settled  by 
Monroe,"  he  said  to  William  Allen  one  day  in  February, 
1835.  "Of  course,  Adams  and  Clay  wouldn't  settle  it! 
They  probably  preferred  to  keep  it  to  trade  on.  So  they 
just  hung  it  up  by  an  agreement  that  didn't  bind  Eng- 
land, but  did  bind  us.  No  agreement  binds  England 
unless  it  is  written  in  the  blood  of  English  soldiers!" 

"The  agreement  of  New  Orleans,  I  suppose,  for  ex- 
ample," suggested  Mr.  Allen. 

"Oh,  yes,  and  others  too ;  such  as  Yorktown  and  Sara- 
toga and  Lake  Erie  and  Plattsburg.  New  Orleans  don't 
stand  alone,  by  any  means.  But  we  must  have  this 
thing  settled.  You  are  on  the  Foreign  Affairs  Com- 
mittee, I  believe.  I'd  rather  this  thing  would  start  in 
Congress  than  from  me.  A  good  many  men  in  the 
House  and  Senate  would  support  it  if  started  in  Con- 
gress who  might  oppose  it  if  I  opened  the  subject.  Ain't 
there  some  way  to  get  it  before  the  House?" 

"Oh,  yes;  a  resolution  to  inquire  into  alleged  viola- 
tions of  the  agreement  would  do  it.  Such  an  inquiry 
could  have  a  wide  scope." 

The  President  talked  in  the  same  strain  with  several 
others  among  his  intimate  personal  friends  in  Congress 


340       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

— among  them  Senator  Forsyth,  of  the  Senate  Foreign 
Relations  Committee  and  soon  afterward  his  Secretary 
of  State. 

Mr.  Forsyth  agreed  with  him  that  it  was  a  matter 
which  ought  to  be  definitively  settled  and  that  the  hold- 
ing of  it  in  abeyance  amounted,  as  he  said,  to  a  con- 
stant menace.  But  the  question  was.  How  to  reopen  the 
question?  How  to  get  it  on  the  boards  again  without 
assuming  too  palpably  the  aggressive? 

"But,"  argued  Jackson,  "there  is  the  parliamentary 
inquiry." 

"Yes,  General,"  Mr.  Fors}i:h  explained.  "But  that 
was  disposed  of  without  action.  I  was  watching  that 
and  know  all  about  it.  The  inquiry  was  practically  w^ith- 
drawn  at  the  request  of  the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Af- 
fairs. The  English  have  a  quiet  way  of  doing  those 
things  when  they  don't  want  trouble.  We  can't  do 
things  that  way  here.  But  the  parliamentary  inquiry 
alone,  for  the  reason  I  have  stated,  does  not  amount 
to  a  public  act  of  the  British  Government,  and  therefore 
cannot  come  within  the  cognizance  of  this  government 
— not  even  as  a  subject  of  inquiry,  either  legislative  or 
diplomatic.  In  a  word,  General,  we  cannot  under  the 
agreement  reopen  the  question  without  a  year's  notice. 
It  is  now  February,  1835.  Including  time  consumed  in 
preliminaries  and  formalities — which  the  British  Minis- 
try would  be  sure  to  prolong  as  much  as  possible — the 
year's  notice  could  hardly  take  effect  before  midsummer, 
1836.  Then  only  a  few  months  of  your  administration 
would  be  left.  It  would,  unquestionably,  be  a  good 
thing  for  our  party  to  have  a  dispute  with  England  on 
hand  pending  the  presidential  election.     But,  taking  into 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT    341 

account  all  the  considerations  I  have  suggested,  I  give 
my  advice  as  you  have  asked  it — we  may  as  well  let 

it  alone." 

The  old  General  was  silent  for  several  minutes.  The 
scene  was  in  front  of  the  great  fireplace  in  the  private 
sitting-room  of  the  White  House,  after  dinner.  The 
long-stemmed  corn-cob  pipe  was  in  evidence.  The  Gen- 
eral gazed  into  the  fire  and  meditated  a  long  time.  Then 
he  refilled  his  pipe  and  lighted  it  anew.  It  was  the 
pipe  of  peace. 

'T  reckon  you're  right,  Forsyth ;  at  least,  you're  right 
now.  It's  my  fault.  I  ought  to  have  pushed  a  settle- 
ment of  that  question  as  soon  as  the  votes  were  counted 
in  1832." 

And  the  Oregon  Boundary  question  slumbered  again. 
And  it  slumbered  on  until  England  found  the  opportunity 
she  had  so  patiently  awaited.  Then  it  was  settled  by 
ignominious  surrender.  And,  worst  of  all — most  humili- 
ating thought — the  surrender  was  made  by  a  President 
whom  Andrew  Jackson  put  in  the  White  House  almost 
as  the  last  act  of  his  life.  And  as  if  that  were  not 
enough,  the  British  plenipotentiary  who  was  sent  by  that 
cunning  government  to  receive  the  capitulation  of  the 
President  whom  Andrew  Jackson  made,  was  Sir  Richard 
Pakenham,  a  cousin  of  the  Sir  Edward  Pakenham  whom 
Andrew  Jackson  destroyed.  England  surely  made  us 
drink  the  hemlock  of  humiliation  to  the  last  dreg  and 
then  made  us  squeeze  the  poison  cup  in  that  surrender — 
without  reason,  compulsion  or  compensation — of  the 
young  empire  now  known  as  British  Columbia.  And 
it  was  done  before  the  earth  was  dry  on  Jackson's  grave. 
Let  us  forget  it — if  we  can. 


342       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

The  French  SpoHation  Claims  made  a  more  serious 
compHcation.  It  may  be  premised  that  the  details  of 
that  affair — somewhat  prolix — are  well  know^n  to  all 
students  of  our  diplomatic  history.  To  the  general  reader 
they  w^ould  be  too  intricate  to  be  interesting.  Briefly, 
the  spoliations  were  made  under  Napoleon's  decrees  of 
Milan  and  Berlin,  and  consisted  of  seizures  of  American 
merchant-ships  by  French  cruisers  or  in  ports  controlled 
by  Napoleon  for  alleged  violations  of  the  paper  blockade 
which  he  proclaimed  in  those  decrees.  The  treaty  by 
w^hich  France  admitted  the  claims  and  agreed  to  pay 
them  was  negotiated  on  our  part  by  Senator  William  C. 
Rives,  whom  Jackson  appointed  minister  to  France  in 
1829.     The  treaty  was  ratified  the  4th  of  July,  1831. 

It  was  creditable  enough  to  our  diplomacy  to  be  worthy 
of  its  illustrious  date.  But  the  French  were  slow  to 
carry  out  their  part  of  the  agreement.  The  period  w^as 
that  of  the  revolution  which  placed  Louis  Philippe  on 
the  French  throne.  He  was  a  good  man,  an  able  writer 
and  a  weak  king.  The  treaty  was  not  popular  wath  the 
French.  They  looked  upon  it  as  one  more  added  to  the 
interminable  list  of  burdens  which  the  evanescent  glory 
of  the  Napoleonic  regime  had  cost  them.  They  intended 
to  pay  it,  but  did  not  wash  to  be  crow^ded.  Jackson 
wanted  the  matter  settled  and  out  of  the  w^ay.  Finally, 
in  the  fall  of  1833,  he  appointed  Edward  Livingston, 
then  Secretary  of  State,  minister  to  France,  with  par- 
ticular instructions  to  push  the  matter  to  a  settlement 
and  obtain  the  money,  which  the  treaty  made  payable  in 
instalments. 

Mr.  Livingston  was  persona  grata  to  the  king — ex- 
ceedingly so.     His  father,   Robert  R.  Livingston,  with 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND   RETIREMENT    343 

Gouverneur  Morris  and  others,  had  assisted  Louis  Phil- 
ippe financially  and  otherwise  when  he  was  in  this  coun- 
try at  the  end  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  a  penniless 
exile.  When  the  American  minister  presented  his  cre- 
dentials, the  monarch  said :  "Mr.  Livingston,  I  welcome 
you  as  something  nearer  than  the  diplomatic  representa- 
tive of  a  friendly  power.  I  greet  you  as  the  beloved  son 
of  my  old  friend,  your  revered  father.  I  receive  you  in 
my  capacity  as  king.  But  I  greet  you  in  my  capacity 
as  a  grateful  man!" 

With  such  a  reception,  it  is  needless  to  say  that  Mr. 
Livingston's  diplomatic  pathway  was  strewn  with  flow- 
ers. He  got  everything  his  heart  could  wish — except 
the  money.  For  a  year  and  a  half  ensued  a  queer  medley 
of  misunderstandings,  cross-purposes  and  contretemps. 
France  could  not  grasp  the  Jacksonian  idea  of  "diplo- 
macy" any  more  than  Jackson  could  comprehend  the 
French  idea.  Matters  drifted  on  from  bad  to  w^orse  un- 
til finally  Jackson  sent  a  message  to  Congress  which  he 
understood  to  embody  merely  an  assurance  of  "firm  atti- 
tude on  the  part  of  the  United  States,"  but  which,  w^hen 
published  in  Paris,  "deeply  wounded  the  susceptibilities 
of  France." 

Now  the  French  have  been  whipped  more  times  and 
worse  than  any  other  great  power  on  earth,  but  never 
conquered.  No  matter  how  torn  by  internecine  tumult; 
no  matter  how  murdered  by  reigns  of  terror  or  crazy 
communes;  no  matter  how  trampled  under  foot  and 
robbed  and  mulcted  by  English,  German  and  Russian 
invaders;  the  French  gaiete  de  coeur  has  never  flickered, 
their  racial  pride  has  never  been  lowered  and  their  na- 
tional amour  pro  pre  has  never  fallen  one  jot.     This  is 


344       HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

the  true,  the  unquenchable  glory  of  France.  Well,  to 
cut  a  long  story  short,  this  comedy  of  misunderstandings 
went  on  till  it  wellnigh  began  to  portend  a  tragedy  of 
arms.  Diplomatic  intercourse  was  suspended.  Passports 
of  ministers  were  asked  and  given.  Jackson  proposed, 
in  case  payment  for  American  property  despoiled  by 
France  should  be  further  refused,  to  issue  letters  of 
marque  and  reprisal  against  French  property  by  way  of 
indemnification. 

Just  at  that  moment  England  offered  to  mediate.  The 
offer  was  accepted — by  the  king  of  the  French  gladly; 
by  Jackson  rather  grimly.  Jackson  did  not  want  to  fight 
France.  He  would  a  thousand  times  rather  fight  the 
mediator.  But  he  thought  the  French  were,  as  he  de- 
clared, "trifling  with  us,"  and  that  sort  of  thing  must 
stop.  The  English  mediation  was  successful.  The 
money  was  paid  into  the  treas;.iry  of  the  United  States, 
as  provided  by  the  treaty,  in  instalments.  And  it  is 
there  yet.  The  United  States  will  always  make  foreign 
nations  pay  indemnities  for  wrongs  done  to  our  citizens. 
Then,  when  the  United  States  gets  hold  of  the  money, 
our  citizens  to  whom  it  belongs  may  get  it — if  they 
can. 

The  author  of  this  work,  when  a  newspaper  corre- 
spondent in  the  press  gallery,  once  heard  James  A.  Gar- 
field declare  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  in  debate  upon 
this  very  subject  of  the  French  Spoliations — advocating 
a  bill  for  distribution  of  the  money  among  those  to  whom 
it  belonged — that  "the  United  States  is  the  only  licensed 
robber  on  this  planet!"  He  said  that  over  the  Treasury 
door  should  be  inscribed  something  like  the  legend  over 
the  portal  of  Dante's  Inferno — not  exactly,  "Who  enters 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT   345 

here  leaves  hope  behind,"  but  rather,  "The  citizeiis  money 
that  gets  in  here  leaves  right  and  law  behind!" 

This  was  the  end  of  General  Jackson's  quarrel  with 
France.     If  the  offender  had  been  England,  no  offer  of 
mediation  could  have  touched  him.     And  at  first  he  was 
averse  even  to  accepting  the  mediatory  services  of  that 
power.     ''Why  England?"  he  asked.     ''She  will  manage 
to  cheat  either  us  or  France  or  both  at  some  stage  of 
the  business!"     He  was  only  induced  to  acquiesce  by 
the   strenuous    representations   of   Livingston,    Forsyth, 
Van  Buren  and  others  that  the  mediation  of  England 
would  have  more  weight  with  France  than  could  that 
of  any  other  power.     But  he  would  have  preferred  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  or  the  King  of  Prussia.     Even  when 
yielding  to   the  importunities   of  his   advisers,   he  pro- 
tested that  he  did   so  only  because  he   "was   ready  to 
sacrifice  anything  but  our  national  honor  to  avoid  war 
with  the  country  that  gave  birth  to  Lafayette." 

Among  the  most  important  acts  of  General  Jackson's 
administration — or  rather  of  his  two  administrations — 
was  his  choice  of  a  successor.  It  is  not  easy  to  deter- 
mine the  exact  time  at  which  this  was  done  or  to  decide 
whether  the  credit  of  it  belonged  to  his  first  or  to  his 
second  administration.  It  is,  however,  known  that,  at 
a  certain  period  in  his  first  administration,  he  seriously 
contemplated  declining  a  renomination,  and  that,  wath 
such  contingency  in  view,  he  had  selected  his  successor. 
It  is  also  known  that,  late  in  his  first  administration,  he 
decided  to  stand  for  re-election  and  then  he  contented 
himself  with  selecting  a  Vice-President  to  serve  as  his 
running  mate.     To  carry  out  this  programme,  he  found 


346       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

it  necessary  to  cast  aside  the  Vice-President  who  had 
been  elected  with  him  the  first  time.  This  was  not  at 
all  difficult,  because  his  first  Vice-President  had  proved 
to  be — from  his  point  of  view — a  conspirator,  a  traitor, 
a  liar,  a  coward,  and  a  person  who  could  face  both  ways 
or  all  ways,  as  occasion  might  seem  to  require — that  is 
to  say,  Calhoun. 

The  precise  moment  at  which  General  Jackson  decided 
to  be  again  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  may,  we 
think,  be  set  as  synchronous  with  the  moment  when  the 
Senate — at  that  time  the  personal  property  of  Henry 
Clay — rejected  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  as 
minister  to  England.  Whatever  his  previous  intention 
may  have  been,  the  General  then  conclusively  determined 
that  Mr.  Van  Buren  should  be  elected  to  the  vice-presi- 
dency with  him.  As  he  was  master  of  the  situation  in 
all  its  elements  except  Mr.  Qay's  Senate — which  did  not 
count  in  the  game  so  far  as  the  people  were  concerned — 
all  these  calculations  were  easy.  Therefore,  when,  early 
in  1 83 1,  the  General  decided  to  stand  for  re-election  in 
1832,  and  determined  that  Mr.  Van  Buren  should  be 
named  for  the  vice-presidency,  nothing  was  left  for  him 
to  do  except  to  select  the  successful  candidate  for  the 
presidency  in  1836.  This  he  did  with  quite  as  little  hesi- 
tation or  embarrassment  as  had  attended  his  decrees  with 
regard  to  events  nearer  at  hand. 

It  is  a  real  pleasure,  we  may  add  incidentally,  to  write 
the  biography  of  a  man  who  seemed  to  take  little  or  no 
account  of  possible  difference  in  personal  responsibility 
as  between  fixing  the  destinies  of  his  country  two  years 
in  advance  or  six.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  General 
Jackson's  doctrine  of  presidential  predestination  worked 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT   347 

out  perfectly  on  the  six-year  basis,  it  does  not  seem 
worth  while  to  argue  what  its  outcome  might  have  been 
on  the  original  two-year  plan.  But  it  is  worth  while, 
as  an  indication  of  his  "staying  quality" — if  nothing  else 
— to  mention  that  the  man  he  originally  selected  to  be 
his  successor  in  1832  was  the  same  man  whom  he  had 
the  people  elect  in  1836;  that  is  to  say,  Van  Buren. 
And  in  this  connection  it  might  also  be  borne  in  mind 
that  he  at  the  same  time  compelled  his  adversaries  to 
set  up  against  himself  for  the  presidency  the  one  man 
in  all  the  w^orld  whose  proud  plumes  he  most  desired  to 
make  trail  in  the  dust  of  defeat — Henry  Clay.  Verily, 
Andrew  Jackson  was  a  history-maker. 

Let  us,  for  convenience,  assume  that  General  Jackson's 
selection  of  his  successor  culminated — no  matter  when 
or  where  it  began — with  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Van 
Buren  as  the  regular  Democratic  candidate.  He  prob- 
ably did  not  expect  that  he  could  command  for  his  heir- 
apparent  the  same  popular  support  that  had  been  vouch- 
safed to  himself.  Even  in  his  own  State  of  Tennessee, 
factions  had  nominated  his  quondam  friend  but  now  ene- 
my, Hugh  White,  as  an  anti-Van  Buren  or  anti-Jackson 
Democratic  candidate. 

Mr.  White's  revolt  against  his  old  friend  and  political 
creator  was  an  affair  of  singular  history.  He  was  a 
warm  personal  friend  and  disciple  of  Calhoun.  He  was 
as  ultra  a  State-rights  doctrinaire  as  a  man  could  be,  but 
he  strongly  opposed  Nullification  and  favored  a  protec- 
tive tariff!  Though  it  had  made  him,  he  was  restive 
under  the  control  of  the  ''machine"  in  Tennessee.  His 
wife  was  a  beautiful,  gifted  and  inordinately  ambitious 
woman  of  the  most  aristocratic  Virginia  stock.     She  had 


34B        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

taken  sides  against  the  President  in  the  Mrs.  Eaton 
campaign.  By  her  influence,  joined  with  that  of  Cal- 
houn, Mr.  White  was  led  to  decline  a  place  in  Jackson's 
Cabinet.  Mrs.  White  believed  that  General  Jackson 
ought  to  select  her  husband  as  his  successor  instead 
of  ]\Ir.  Van  Buren.  And  when  she  found  that  he 
would  not  take  that  course,  she  determined  to  over- 
throw the  Jackson  regime  in  Tennessee! 

This  was  not  so  very  marvellous  as  a  scheme  of  purely 
feminine  politics.  But  it  really  was  a  marvel  that  any 
man  in  his  right  mind  should  have  lent  himself  to  so 
preposterous  a  project.  Mr.  White  ran  as  an  anti-Van 
Buren  Democrat  and  actually  carried  the  electoral  vote 
of  Tennessee  *  by  a  good  plurality. 

The  attitude  of  Mr.  Clay  in  the  campaign  of  1836 
was  pitiable.  Up  to  the  time  when  Mr.  Webster  became 
a  candidate  for  the  Whig  nomination,  he  had  expected 
to  be  renominated  by  acclamation.  He  believed  that  he 
could  beat  Van  Buren  if  the  Whigs  would  give  him 
their   united   support,   in   view   of   the   defection   which 

*  The  cause  of  this  was  that  the  Whigs  of  East  Tennessee,  knowing  that 
the  State  could  not  be  carried  for  their  own  candidate,  Harrison,  voted  almost 
solidly  for  White.  Their  strength,  added  to  the  considerable  Democratic 
vote  that  Mr.  White  could  draw  away  from  Van  Buren — who  was  never  ac- 
ceptable to  the  Democracy  of  the  State — gave  to  White  the  electoral  vote  of 
Tennessee.  But  while  he  was  gaining  this  empty  honor,  the  "machine" 
quietly  elected  a  legislature  which  forced  him  out  of  the  Senate,  and  in  other 
respects  completely  broke  him  down. 

It  also  broke  his  heart.  In  less  than  three  years  he  died.  Hugh  White 
was  a  good,  brave,  able  man.  But  he  lacked  balance  and  his  course  in 
public  life  was  erratic.  This  his  contemporaries  generally  ascribed  to  the 
influence  of  his  wife,  whose  control  over  him  is  sufficiently  attested  by  the 
fact  that  she  made  him  believe  he  could  permanently  overthrow  the  power> 
of  Jackson  in  Tennessee.  To  complete  the  romance  it  remains  to  say  only 
that  the  old  General  was  Mrs.  White's  most  devoted  admirer  and  would 
never  permit  her  interference  in  politics  to  be  criticised  in  his  presence. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT    349 

he  thought  Van  Buren's  candidacy  would  cause  in  the 
Democratic  ranks.  But  he  soon  found  that  as  between 
himself  and  Mr.  Webster,  the  Whigs  would  nominate 
the  latter.  To  beat  him,  Mr.  Clay  w^as  forced  to  bring 
about  the  nomination  of  General  Harrison.  This  neces- 
sity made  him  sour  and  morose.  He  not  only  despaired 
of  himself,  but  of  the  country.  He  was  by  no  means 
the  only  great  American  wdio  has  failed  to  draw  the 
proper  distinction  between  the  defeat  of  his  own  ambi- 
tion and  the  perpetuity  of  free  institutions.  To  Judge 
Francis  J.  Brooke,  of  Virginia,  he  wrote : 

*Tf  you  mean  that  I  have  less  confidence  than  I  for- 
merly entertained  in  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the 
people  and  in  the  stability  of  our  institutions,  I  regret 
to  be  obliged  to  own  it.  Are  we  not  governed  now  and 
have  we  not  been  governed  for  some  time  past  pretty 
much  by  the  will  of  one  man?  .  .  .  When  we  con- 
sider that  he  is  ignorant,  passionate,  hypocritical,  cor- 
rupt, cruel  and  easily  swayed  by  the  base  men  who  sur- 
round him,  what  can  we  think  of  the  popular  approba- 
tion he  receives?" 

The  absurdity  of  this  reasoning  seems  to  lie  principally 
in  its  intimation  that  there  may  have  been  a  time  when 
Mr.  Clay  fondly  imagined  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  could  possibly  be  as  wise  and  virtuous'  as  he  him- 
self was.  Political  ambition  founded  on  such  fallacy 
was  of  course  foredoomed.  But  Mr.  Clay  seems  never 
to  have  been  convinced  of  the  hopeless  debauchery  and 
utter  turpitude  of  the  American  people  until  they  gave 
General  Jackson  219  electoral  votes  to  his  own  49.  It 
appears  that  his  instinct  of  charity  impelled  him  to  ex- 
culpate Jackson  on  the  ground  that  he  didn't  know  any 


350       HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

better  and  couldn't  help  it.  But  as  for  the  American 
people,  they  were  simply  sunk  so  low  that  not  even  the 
talents  and  the  transcendent  virtues  of  Henry  Clay  could 
resurrect  them ! 

The  people  ratified  General  Jackson's  choice  of  a  suc- 
cessor. Perhaps  it  might  be  said  that  they  confirmed 
the  appointment.  True,  they  did  not  ratify  his  choice 
of  a  successor  with  anything  like  the  enthusiasm  that 
had  marked  their  previous  ratifications  of  Jackson  him- 
self, but  it  was  enough.  Mr.  Van  Buren  received  170 
electoral  votes  to  General  Harrison's  73.  The  votes  of 
Tennessee  and  Georgia  were  thrown  away  upon  Mr. 
White,  those  of  Massachusetts  upon  Mr.  Webster  and 
those  of  South  Carolina  upon  Mr.  Mangum.  Mr.  Clay 
had  the  satisfaction  of  frustrating  the  presidential  aspira- 
tions of  Mr.  Webster — which,  as  the  late  Richard  Swiv- 
eller  remarked  concerning  his  umbrella,  'Svas  something." 

Next  to  the  popular  ratification  of  his  choice  for  the 
succession,  the  event  of  General  Jackson's  last  year  in 
the  presidency  which  most  elated  him  was  the  downfall 
of  Mexican  rule  in  Texas  at  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto. 
During  the  early  stages  of  the  Texan  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence, a  member  of  his  Cabinet  happened  to  remark 
in  his  presence  that  the  United  States  must  enforce  her 
neutrality,  and  that  a  stronger  force  ought  to  be  sta- 
tioned on  the  Sabine  frontier  to  prevent  violations  of  it. 
To  this  the  General  replied :  ''Sir,  let  it  be  understood 
that  I  am  not  neutral  in  this  conflict.*     The  force  in 

*  Among  those  who  went  from  the  United  States  to  the  aid  of  General 
Houston  were  Lieutenant  O'Brien  of  the  regular  army,  Captain  Joseph 
Bonnell,  special  deputy  United  States  marshal  for  the  District  of  Louisiana, 
and  David  Buell,  Jr.,  then  a  government  surveyor  in  the  Southwestern 
District  of  Arkansas.    This  fact  became  known  to  the  Mexican  minister  at 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT   351 

the  locality  you  refer  to  is  ample.  Should  its  increase 
become  necessary,  I  will  attend  to  the  matter  personally." 
This  was  as  early  as  1832. 

Soon  after  this  incident  the  General,  observing  that 
his  Texan  forces  needed  a  leader,  aided  one  of  his 
most  trustworthy  subordinates  of  the  Creek  war  and 
the  campaigns  of  Louisiana  and  Florida,  to  go  to  Texas 
and  take  command.*  This  was  Sam  Houston.  He  had, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  served  General  Jackson  in  the 
various  capacities  of  Indian  scout,  captain  in  the  regular 
army,  member  of  Congress  from  Tennessee  and  governor 
of  that  State.  The  result  abundantly  proved  the  wis- 
dom of  General  Jackson's  selection.  In  all  the  Union 
he  could  not  have  found  a  man  so  perfectly  adapted  to 
the  command  of  his  somewhat  turbulent  forces  in  Texas 
as  Sam  Houston. 

The  details  of  San  Jacinto  delighted  the  old  warrior 
beyond  expression.     For  weeks  it  was  difficult  to  draw 

Washington,  and  was  made  a  subject  of  diplomatic  representation  to  the 
Department  of  State.  The  Secretary  referred  the  matter  to  General  Jack- 
son, who  said  he  would  attend  to  their  cases  personally.  He  wrote  to  each 
of  them  a  letter  ordering  him  to  return  forthwith  to  his  proper  post  of  duty. 
These  letters  found  the  officials  to  whom  they  were  addressed  already 
returned  to  their  proper  posts,  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  being  over  and 
General  Houston  having  no  further  need  of  their  services. 

*When  General  Houston  left  Washington,  shortly  after  his  chastise- 
ment of  Representative  Stanberry,  of  Ohio,  for  reflections  upon  his  integrity 
in  the  House,  he  was  bankrupt.  He  had  not  even  the  means  to  pay  his 
passage  home  to  Arkansas,  where  he  then  lived.  General  Jackson  loaned 
him  five  hundred  dollars  and  advised  him  to  go  to  Texas,  where  the  standard 
of  revolt  against  Mexico  had  just  been  raised.  This  was  in  the  summer 
of  1832.  Houston  took  Jackson's  advice  and  went  directly  to  Texas.  He 
began  his  career  there  by  being  a  member  of  the  "  Consultation  Convention" 
that  assembled  at  Austin  in  April,  1833.  This  convention  elected  him 
commander-in-chief  of  the  forces  of  the  embryo  republic,  but  at  first  he 
made  little  progress  and  in  1834  he  resigned  the  thankless  task.  In  February, 
1836,  he  was  reinstated.     The  rest  need  not  be  told. 


352     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

his  attention  to  any  other  subject,  much  less  to  interest 
him  in  any  other. 

*'It  beats  New  Orleans,"  he  said.  ''There  my  army, 
behind  a  breastwork,  defeated  about  three  times  their 
number  who  attacked  them.  But  at  San  Jacinto,  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  Americans  attacked  over  two  thousand 
Mexicans  in  an  intrenched  position  and  annihilated  them 
in  forty  minutes.  There  has  been  nothing  like  this  in 
the  history  of  warfare  that  I  ever  heard  of." 

When  he  received  Sam  Houston's  letter  describing  the 
battle  and  its  effects,  the  General  spoke  of  it  habitually 
as  ''the  official  report" ;  and  his  reply  was  exactly  such 
as  a  commander-in-chief  would  address  to  a  subordinate 
who  had  carried  out  his  plans  with  signal  ability  and 
success.     He  wrote : 

From  what  I  could  make  out  by  an  insufficient  map  I  have 
and  what  information  I  could 'get  of  the  enemy's  movements, 
I  was  sure  you  would  stand  and  fight  on  the  west  side  of  Galves- 
ton Bay,  and  probably  just  where  you  did,  or  on  Buffalo  Bayou. 
I  expected  you  would  repulse  the  enemy,  but  I  confess  my  as- 
tonishment that  you  should  have  ended  the  whole  war  in  one 
battle.  I  should  have  been  perfectly  satisfied  if  you  had  re- 
pulsed the  enemy,  compelled  him  to  retreat  and  then  pursued 
him  with  your  usual  vigor. 

I  am  very  sorry  to  hear  of  your  severe  wound,  but  hope  it 
may  not  long  deprive  the  country  of  your  inestimable  services. 
I  hope  there  may  be  no  delay  or  discord  in  organizing  a  stable 
government  to  make  the  best  use  of  the  Independence  you  and 
your  men  have  so  bravely  won.     .     .     . 

From  another  source  I  am  informed  that  though  twenty-one 
years  have  passed  since  our  campaigns  together  in  the  late  war, 
you  had  in  your  little  army  as  many  as  two  hundred  old  soldiers* 

*  These  veterans  were  the  backbone  of  Houston's  "little  army."  One 
of  them  was  Captain  William  Sylvester.     He  commanded  a  small  troop  of 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT    353 

of  New  Orleans.  This  is  as  it  should  be  and  I  charge  you  to 
give  every  one  of  them  my  warmest  thanks  and  congratulations 
as  well  as  all  the  rest  of  your  gallant  army.     .     .     . 

Subscriptions  are  being  made  in  Tennessee  and  elsewhere  to 
aid  you;  to  which,  I  need  not  say,  I  have  contributed  to  the 
extent  of  my  means.     .     .     .* 

General  Jackson  at  once  set  going  a  movement  for  the 
annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States.  Had  his 
administration  not  been  so  near  its  end  he  would  beyond 
question  have  accomplished  his  purpose  within  a  year 
or  two.  But  after  he  became  ex-President  he  lost  some 
of  his  power  and  was  not  able  to  bring  about  the  annexa- 
tion until  1845. 

Near  the  close  of  Jackson's  official  term  the  slavery 
agitation  assumed  definite  form  as  a  political  issue.  The 
question  arose  on  the  use  of  the  mails  for  transmitting 
so-called  "incendiary"  publications  from  the  North  to 
the  South.  In  his  attitude  upon  this  subject  the  General 
was  more  indulgent  to  South  Carolina  than  he  had  been 
in  the  days  of  Nullification.  He  recommended  in  his 
message  the  passage  of  a  bill  to  prevent  the  circulation 
through  the  mails  of  ''incendiary  publications  intended 
to  incite  the  slaves  to  insurrection."  The  measure  he  had 
in  contemplation  was  quite  similar  in  spirit  to  the  exist- 

thirty-two  "dragoons"  at  San  Jacinto.  With  them  he  rode  over  the  Mexican 
artillery— two  12-pounder  howitzers.  Then,  after  cutting  down  no  less 
than  seven  Mexican  soldiers  with  his  sabre,  Captain  Sylvester,  single-handed, 
trailed  and  captured  General  Santa  Ana  and  Colonels  Arista  and  Torrejon, 
who  had  hidden  in  a  swamp.  He  had  ser^^ed  under  Jackson  in  the  Creek 
war  the  first  Florida  campaign  and  at  New  Orieans  as  a  private,  corporal 
and  sergeant  in  Hinds's  Mississippi  mounted  rifles.  When  he  volunteered 
to  help  Sam  Houston  in  1835,  Captain  Sylvester  was  cashier  of  a  bank  st 

Natchez. 

*  Majors's  War  for  Texan  Independence. 

Vol.  II.— 23  _ 


354     HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

ing  law  in  our  time  against  the  use  of  the  mails  for 
transmitting  obscene  prints  and  other  immoral  matter. 
At  that  time  the  Southern  people  and  a  very  great  ma- 
jority of  those  in  the  North  viewed  abolitionist  tracts 
and  papers  with  quite  as  much  aversion  as  is  now  felt 
toward  obscene  literature  or  the  use  of  the  mails  for 
transacting  the  business  of  lotteries.  Calhoun  tried  to 
pass  a  bill  much  more  sweeping  than  that  proposed  by 
the  President,  but  it  was  defeated. 

Much  of  the  Senate's  time  during  the  short  session 
of  the  Twenty-fourth  Congress  was  consumed  in  debate 
upon  Senator  Benton's  resolution  to  expunge  from  the 
journal  Mr.  Clay's  censure  of  the  President  passed  by 
the  Senate  of  the  Twenty-third   Congress,   March  28, 

1834. 

In  this  debate  much  of  the  old  ground  of  controversy 

was  ploughed  and  harrowed  over  again ;  but,  excepting 
the  speeches  of  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Calhoun  in  opposition 
to  Benton's  resolution,  the  tone  of  the  discussion  was 
decorous,  if  not  altogether  temperate.  It  wound  up  in 
a  continuous  session  lasting  from  noon,  January  i6th, 
until  3.30  o'clock  the  next  morning. 

The  debate  was  closed  by  Mr.  Webster,  who  argued 
mainly  on  points  of  parliamentary  law  and  precedent. 
He  ingeniously  wrought  out  the  somewhat  remarkable 
proposition,  in  spirit  if  not  in  exact  letter,  that  an  entry 
upon  the  journal  could  not  be  expunged  unless  erro- 
neously or  fraudulently  made.  He  did  not  believe  that 
one  branch  of  the  government  had  any  right  to  punish 
another  branch  except  as  distinctly  provided  in  the  Con- 
stitution. The  Constitution  provided  for  impeachment 
but  not  for  censure,  except  as  resolutions  declaring  the 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  AND  RETIREMENT    355 

sense  of  the  Senate  in  general  terms  might  be  so  inter- 
preted. Yet,  once  entered  upon  the  journal  as  an  act 
of  the  Senate,  it  must  stay  there  or  it  could  not  be  said 
that  the  constitutional  requirement  that  each  house  of 
Congress  should  keep  a  record  of  its  proceedings  had 
been  fulfilled.  The  Senate  then,  at  3.30  a.m.,  voted,  by 
25  to  19,  to  expunge  Mr.  Clay's  censure  of  President 
Jackson  from  the  journal. 

From  that  time  until  the  4th  of  March  the  proceedings 
were  desultory,  though  there  was  not  much  abatement 
of  personalities  against  the  retiring  President.  The  last 
act  of  General  Jackson  was  to  defeat  by  "pocket  veto"  a 
bill  to  rescind  his  specie  circular  and  make  bank-notes 
legal  tender. 

It  seems  customary  with  writers  on  the  subject  of 
General  Jackson  to  speak  of  his  departure  from  the  White 
House  in  March,  1837,  as  his  "retirement  to  private 
life."  But  that  phrase  does  not  appear  to  state  the  actual 
fact.  We  think  the  more  strictly  accurate  statement 
would  be  that  he  terminated  eight  years  of  administer- 
ing the  government  as  President  in  the  White  House, 
and  began  another  eight  years  of  administering  as  much 
of  the  government  as  the  Democratic  party  could  control 
in  the  capacity  of  ex-President  at  the  Hermitage. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE 

Threescore  years  and  ten  had  stamped  their  marks 
upon  the  brow  of  Andrew  Jackson  when  he  left  the 
White  House  for  the  Hermitage  in  March,  1837.  He 
was  old,  ill  and  in  debt.  To  settle  and  square  up  his 
personal  accounts  in  Washington  he  had  to  pledge  the 
cotton-crop  of  his  home  plantation  six  months  ahead  for 
a  loan  of  $6,000.  Most  of  these  bills  were  for  supplies 
in  keeping  up  the  lavish  hospitality  and  unstinted  good 
cheer  for  which  he  had  made  the  White  House  proverbial 
during  his  eight  years'  tenancy.  He  had  drawn  a  sharp 
line  always  between  personal  and  official  expenses. 
Many  things  that,  under  administrations  before  and  after 
his,  were  charged  to  the  public  allowance,  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  paying  for  out  of  his  own  pocket.  He  had 
loaned  first  and  last  many  thousand  dollars  in  small  sums 
to  needy  or  embarrassed  friends  whose  claims  upon  him 
he  could  never  find  it  in  his  heart  to  deny ;  men  who  had 
stood  by  him  when  standing  by  meant  risk  of  life  or 
limb;  women  and  children  widowed  or  orphaned,  whose 
husbands  or  fathers  had  stood  by  him  in  their  youth  and 
strength  and  pride.  He  was  a  rugged,  fierce  old  fellow, 
but  in  his  vocabulary  no  two  words  expressed  so  much 
to  his  heart  and  his  soul  as  those  two — ''standing  by." 
An  invariable  concomitant  of  the  staying  quality  in  men 
is  that  those  who  possess  it  themselves  expect  and  insist 

356 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  357 

upon  it  in  others  as  the  price  of  continued  confidence  and 
friendship.  Therefore,  as  no  man  ever  lived  with  more 
of  that  quahty  in  his  brain  and  bosom  than  Jackson  had, 
so  was  his  sense  of  it  in  others  keener  and  his  apprecia- 
tion of  it  HveHer  than  are  to  be  found  in  men  of  the 
common  run.  These  traits,  while  they  enlarged  his  "per- 
sonal following"  to  a  degree  never  known  before  or 
since  in  public  life,  also  drew  upon  his  never  plethoric 
purse  in  ways  and  in  directions  that  the  busy  world 
knew  not  of;  ways  and  directions  known  only  to  himself 
and  those  whom  he  helped;  ways  and  directions  that  he 
forgot  oftener  than  the  others  did.  Governor  Allen  and 
Mr.  Blair  used  to  relate  many  anecdotes  of  this  flavor, 
one  of  which  is  good  enough  for  history : 

Within  a  few  days  of  the  end  of  his  term,  and  while 
he  was  ''packing-up,"  an  Irishman  called  at  the  White 
House  and  expressed  a  desire  to  ''see  the  Prisident,  per- 
sonally." "What  do  you  wish?"  inquired  young  Mr. 
Rives,  who  happened  to  come  to  the  reception-door  just 
then.  "The  President  is  very  busy  with  private  affairs 
just  now  and  is  not  attending  to  public  business  to-day." 

"Sure,  sur,  it's  exactly  privit  bizness  I'm  on  mesilf, 
sur." 

"May  I  ask  what  it  is?" 

"Sure  you  may,  sur.  He's  goin'  away  purty  soon 
now,  and  I  w^ant  to  pay  him  an  old  debt  I've  owed  him 
a  long  time,  sur." 

This  amused  the  polite  Mr.  Rives.  He  saw  that  the 
Irishman,  though  fairly  well  dressed  on  this  occasion, 
was  a  son  of  toil.  "Very  well,"  he  said.  "What  is  your 
name,  please?     I  will  announce  you." 

"Patrick  Cunningham,   sur;  corporal  in  the  Sivinth 


358      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

Rigilars,  sur,  at  Pensacola  and  New  Orleans;  now  for 
many  years  in  Snyder's  livery-stable  here,  sur." 

With  that  formidable  ''descriptive  list,"  Patrick  was 
announced. 

"What!  Old  Pat  Cunningham?  One  of  my  old  sol- 
diers! Wants  something,  I  suppose — anyhow,  fetch 
him  in " 

"No,  General,"  said  Mr.  Rives.  "As  I  understand 
him,  he  wants  to  pay  you  some  money  he  owes  you." 

"Let  him  in,  then,  right  away !     I  need  it !" 

Mr.  Rives  ushered  in  the  veteran  of  Pensacola  and 
New  Orleans.  The  President  of  the  United  States  ex- 
tended his  hand  and  said :  "Mr.  Rives  tells  me  you  want 
to  pay  me  some  money." 

"Yes,  sur;  some  I  owe  you.    Twelve  dollars,  sur." 

"Well,  I  suppose  you're  right,  Patrick;  but,  'pon  my 
word,  I  don't  remember  the'  transaction." 

"It  wuz  three  years  ago,  sur.  I  needed  it  then.  I've 
done  better  since,  sur.  I  knew  you  was  goin'  away  purty 
soon,  and  I  wanted  to  be  square  with  you  when  you 
wint." 

"Are  you  sure  you  can  spare  it,  Patrick?  Don't  you 
need  it  yourself?     I  know  what  it  is  to  need  money!" 

"No,  sur.  I  can  always  spare  money  to  pay  me  honest 
debts  whin  I  have  it,  sur.  That's  a  way  we  Irish  have 
— such  Irish  as  me  and  you,  I  mean,  Gineril !  Here  it  is" 
(counting  out  twelve  dollars). 

"Thank  you,  Patrick.  I'll  accept  it.  But,  as  I  said, 
I  don't  recollect  anything  about  it." 

"Well,  Gineril,  you  seemed  to  be  thinking  about  some- 
thing else  when  you  let  me  have  it." 

"I  must  have  been !"  retorted  the  old  General,   with 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  359 

that  grin  he  could  make  so  quizzical  when  he  felt  like  it. 
Singularly,  Patrick,  with  all  his  Irish  wit,  did  not  seem 
to  see  the  grin. 

Then,  said  our  informant,  the  old  General  suspended 
his  packing-up  operations  and  he  and  Patrick  engaged 
in  an  interchange  of  war  reminiscences,  which  Mr. 
Rives  had  to  interrupt  after  a  while,  purely  in  the  inter- 
est of  necessary  business. 

The  advent  of  the  heir-apparent  brought  about  few 
changes  or  next  to  none.  Mr.  Van  Buren — at  the  start 
— did  little  else  than  prolong  the  administration  of  the 
President  who  had  made  one  of  him.  The  old  Cabinet, 
or  most  of  it,  remained  as  it  stood :  John  Forsyth  in  the 
Department  of  State;  Levi  Woodbury  in  the  Treasury; 
Mr.  Butler,  Attorney-General  and,  for  the  time,  Acting 
Secretary  of  War;  Mahlon  Dickerson  in  the  Navy  De- 
partment; Amos  Kendall  running  the  mails.  For  the 
rest,  Blair  remained  in  charge  of  the  ''organ";  the  diplo- 
matic representation  held  its  own.  In  short,  there  was 
not  only  no  "clean  sweep,"  but,  on  the  contrary,  an 
exemplification  of  pure  and  unadulterated  "Civil  Service 
Reform,"  as  it  is  understood  to-day. 

The  only  great,  radical  change  of  personnel  was  in 
the  head  of  the  regime  itself.  The  new  administration — 
at  the  start — was  the  intangible  spirit  of  Jackson  in  the 
visible  flesh  of  Van  Buren.  That  such  metempsychosis 
could  not  be  permanent  was  evident  enough  to  those 
who  knew  both  men,  but  it  started  off  without  a  jar  or 
a  ripple.  Two  men  less  alike  in  any  and  every  element 
that  may  enter  into  the  make-up  of  character  than  An- 
drew Jackson  and  Martin  Van  Buren  were  never  created. 


J 


60     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 


Yet  it  may  have  been,  and  probably  was,  just  this  antip- 
odal structure  that  made  them  the  friends,  confidants  and 
coadjutors  they  had  been  ever  since  Jackson  came  to 
the  Senate  in  1823  and  met  Van  Buren  for  the  first 
time. 

One  was  sinuous,  the  other  straight;  one  angular, 
peremptory,  compelling,  the  other  smooth,  conciliatory, 
persuasive;  one  the  beau  ideal  of  the  soldier,  the  com- 
mander, the  fighter,  the  other  a  sleek  and  slippered  knight 
of  the  carpet — cajoler,  diplomat,  courtier;  one  a  human 
thunderbolt  of  temper  and  force  incarnate,  the  other  sun- 
shine in  the  shape  of  man,  in  whom  there  was  never  sign 
or  symptom  of  wrath  or  ruffling.  Yet  these  two,  each 
adapted  to  the  special  environment  of  his  place  and  his 
breeding,  had  been  the  complements  of  one  another  for 
fourteen  years  without  break  or  dispute  through  the  most 
strenuous  and  stormy  period  our  political  existence  ever 
knew. 

This  description,  however,  though  accurate  in  its  gen- 
eralities, must  not  be  interpreted  to  mean  either  that 
Jackson  lacked  the  snaz'itcr  in  niodo  or  Van  Buren  the 
fortiter  in  re  when  occasion  permitted  or  required.  Each 
was,  in  his  way,  great  and  successful.  And  of  neither 
could  it  be  said  that  he  ever  shirked  an  obligation,  broke 
a  pledge  or  betrayed  a  friend. 

Jackson's  popularity  was  that  overwhelming  worship 
which  the  world  never  fails  to  render  unto  the  defender 
and  the  conqueror.  Van  Buren's  hold  upon  men  was 
that  subtler  power  of  mind  over  matter,  that  resistless 
sway  of  the  moral  over  the  physical,  felt  but  not  seen, 
susceptible  of  apprehension  but  not  of  analysis.  But 
Jackson  was  the  superior  being  of  the  two.     He  might 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  361 

have  gained  the  highest  station  without  Van  Buren. 
Without  Jackson,  Van  Buren  could  never  have  risen 
to  the  cHmax  of  American  ambition  as  he  did. 

Concerning  the  real,  inner,  self-confidential  estimate 
each  of  these  antipodal  characters  entertained  of  the 
other,  historians  have  never  agreed.  Some  believe  that 
Jackson  never  completely  trusted  Van  Buren,  but  found 
him  pliant  enough  to  make  up  in  utility  what  he  may 
have  lacked  in  honesty.  And  these  believe,  conversely, 
that  Van  Buren's  devotion  to  Jackson  was  but  the  fealty 
of  fear,  which  the  constant  prospect  of  favors  to  come 
converted  into  as  near  an  approach  to  gratitude  as  such 
natures  are  capable  of. 

The  view  may  be  true.  One  great  fact  we  all  know : 
Van  Buren  lasted  just  so  long  as  the  impulse  given  to 
him  by  Jackson's  strong  arm  endured — and  no  longer. 
The  prime  mover  of  the  conjoint  mechanism  was  the 
will  and  the  courage  of  Jackson.  So  long  as  the  source 
of  motive  power  was  active  Van  Buren  moved  steadily 
and  surely  until  he  reached  the  White  House.  So  soon 
as  the  prime  mover  ceased  to  exert  his  influence.  Van 
Buren  went  back  to  Kinderhook,  whence  he  came. 

Another  and  much  smaller  school — who  may  in  some 
senses  be  termed  political  casuists,  and  whose  ultimate 
development  has  been  found  in  the  party  strifes  of  New 
York,  from  the  days  of  Burr  and  Hamilton  to  the  present 
time — will  blandly  persuade  you  that  it  was  Van  Buren 
who  made  Jackson  President  for  two  terms,  simply  that 
he  might  serve  as  stepping-stone  to  one  term  for  himself. 
Between  these  two  extremes  we  think  the  kernel  of  truth 
is  that  the  one  was  as  useful  to  the  other  as  the  other 
was  needful  to  the  one;  and  that,  in  the  peculiar  condi- 


362        HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

tions  of  the  times  and  the  places,  neither  could  have 
achieved  all  that  he  did  without  the  other's  help. 

It  was  therefore  natural,  if  not  unavoidable,  that 
Van  Buren  should  take  over  intact,  as  he  did,  the  ad- 
ministration that  Jackson  bequeathed  to  him.  The  fact 
that  their  paths  of  policy  and  even  of  belief  in  some 
degree  diverged  afterward  was  the  result  of  supervening 
conditions  which  neither  could  foresee  nor  control.  At 
any  rate,  their  friendship,  though  sorely  tested  by  the 
arts  of  others,  stood  the  trial  and  ended  only  in  the 
tomb. 

On  the  inaugural  day  General  Jackson  was  so  ill 
that  he  should  have  been  in  bed.  Yet  he  Avas  up 
and  about  in  a  fashion  and  managed  to  perform  some 
part  of  an  outgoing  President's  offices  of  courtesy 
to  his  successor.  Van  Buren,  sensible  of  the  General's 
extreme  debility  and  fearful'  that  the  fatigue  of  travel 
might  break  him  completely  down,  wished  him  to  stay 
in  the  White  House  at  least  until  May  or  June  or  at 
his  own  option.  But  the  man  who  could  rise  from  a 
bed  of  wounds  and  anguish  to  lead  his  army  against 
the  Creeks,  when  the  blood  of  women  and  children  mas- 
sacred at  Fort  Mims  called  aloud  for  vengeance,  w^as 
not  to  be  daunted  by  the  prospective  fatigues  of  a  mere 
peaceful  journey,  seventy  years  old  and  sick  though  he 
now  might  be. 

His  stay  as  guest  in  the  house  where  he  had  been 
master — and  such  a  master! — was  brief.  In  a  few  days 
he  was  off  for  Tennessee.  The  afternoon  before  he  left 
occurred  an  interview  not  yet  made  historical  except  for 
two  or  three  references  to  it  in  Benton's  Thirty  Years, 
and   these    quite    mystical — for    him.      The   party    was 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  ^^3 

quadrilateral — Jackson,  Benton,  Blair  and  Allen — the 
place,  Mr.  Blair's  house.  For  our  information  concern- 
ing it  we  are  indebted  about  equally  to  the  two  gentle- 
men last  named. 

In  this  conference  the  General  did  most  of  the  talking. 
He  told  his  friends  that  he  purposed  washing  his  hands 
utterly  of  public  life  and  political  affairs;  that  he  had 
now  been  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  public  servant 
from  the  age  of  thirteen  to  that  of  threescore  and  ten; 
from  the  Carolina  campaign  of  1780  in  the  Revolution 
to  that  moment  in  1837  at  Washington — a  stretch  of 
fifty-seven  years,  with  hardly  interval  enough  for  com- 
mon education;  that  he  had  Hved  his  whole  life  in  plain 
sight  of  the  public  and  the  people,  hiding  nothing,  simu- 
lating nothing,  confessing  nothing,  extenuating  nothing 
and  regretting  nothing — except  that  he  could  never  get 
a  chance  to  shoot  Clay  or  hang  Calhoun.  And  of  these 
he  declared  that  one  was  baser  than  Dickinson  and  the 
other  more  criminal  than  Arbuthnot. 

Looking  back  through  his  eight  years  in  the  presi- 
dency, he  saw  some  things  well  done,  some  half  done, 
others  still  to  be  done.  Among  the  things  well  done 
were  the  destruction  of  a  huge  chartered  monopoly  to 
which  the  government  had  lent  its  power  and  prestige 
for  the  enrichment  of  a  few;  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  which  he  had  forced  to  a  plane  no  more  formida- 
ble than  that  of  a  Pennsylvania  corporation.  A  civil 
service,  of  fungous  growth  upon  the  body  politic,  aristo- 
cratic, oligarchic,  self-perpetuating  and  modelled  in  ser- 
vility after  that  of  England,  had  been  rooted  out  and 
an  American,  democratic  and  free-for-all  system  substi- 
tuted in  its  place.     A  heresy  threatening  to  strike  at 


364      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

the  vitals  of  our  national  existence  had  been  put  down; 
not,  indeed,  so  thoroughly  eradicated  as  he  could  wish, 
but  as  thoroughly  as  all  the  elements  with  which  he 
had  to  deal  would  permit.  The  Indians,  an  ever-growing 
tumor  so  long  as  they  held  territory  and  semi-inde- 
pendent sovereignty  within  the  boundaries  of  States,  had 
been  peacefully  removed  to  a  reservation  in  the  far  West, 
where  they  could  be  happy  in  their  own  way  and  be  free 
from  the  wiles  and  pitfalls  of  the  white  man — at  least 
for  many  years  or  even  generations  to  come.  These, 
with  many  other  things  of  minor  import,  had  been  well 
done. 

Among  the  things  half  done  was,  chief  of  all,  regu- 
lation of  the  tariff — a  hopeless  problem  to  him — a  vast 
and  illusive  cobweb  of  vague  wants  and  conflicting  greeds 
which  he  feared  could  never  be  equitably  accommodated 
or  fairly  adjusted.  Next  in 'importance — if,  indeed,  it 
were  not  first — was  the  currency;  certainly  in  confusion, 
and  without  definite  promise  of  solution.  He  had  tried 
to  make  its  values  intrinsic  or  to  fix  the  intrinsic  basis 
beyond  the  power  of  parties  to  alter  or  factions  to  amend. 
It  was  not  done.  It  was  hardly  well  begun.  He  looked 
forward  to  the  consequences  with  foreboding  and  alarm. 
The  only  real  money  was  the  precious  metals.  If  there 
must  be  paper  tokens  of  money,  let  them  issue  direct 
from  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  under  charter 
of  the  Constitution  itself,  based  not  merely  upon  the 
faith  of  the  government  alone,  but  also  upon  the  actual 
power  and  readiness  of  the  government  to  redeem  the 
paper  tokens  in  real  money  at  any  and  all  times.  But 
no  bank-notes;  no  promises  of  A  to  pay  B  in  a  mere 
note  of  hand  which  C  might  offer  to  D  as  legal  tender! 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  365 

There  were  many  other  things  left  half  done  which  he 
hoped  that  time,  wisdom  and  diligence  might  work  out 

in  due  order. 

Then  there  were  other  very  important  things  not  done 
at  all;  things  which  in  his  own  time  he  could  find  no  way 
of  gr'asping,  not  even  tentatively.     Chief  of  these  were 
the  annexation  of  Texas  and  the  definitive  settlement  of 
the  Oregon  boundary;  questions  directly  and  vitally  in- 
volving both  the  integrity  of  the  nation  and  "extension 
of  the  area  of  free  institutions."    With  regard  to  Texas, 
the  problem  would  work  itself  out  if  the  new  republic 
were  invited  instead  of  repelled.     But  he  was  sure  that 
repulsion— which  he  feared  would  be  the  policy  of  New 
England— could  have  no  other  result  than  to  drive  Texas 
into  the  arms  of  Old  England.     As  for  the  great,  un- 
settled,   disputed    Northwest,    its    proper    and    rightful 
boundary  was  a  question  to  be  settled  only  by  firmness 
and  courage.     If  committed  to  the  arts  and  subtleties  of 
diplomacy,  the  trained  courtiers  of  England  would  cheat 
our   frank  and  candid   statesmen  out  of  the  hairs  on 
their  heads  at  every  turn.     "Our  motto  should  be,  gen- 
tlemen," he  said,  "the  words  of  our  young  friend.  Sen- 
ator Allen,  often  spoken  in  our  discussions  of  the  sub- 
ject—Tifty-four-forty  or  Fight!'    Let  that  be  the  motto 
not  merely  of  our  party,  but  of  the  nation,  and  England 
will  yield  in  the  Northwest  as  she  yielded  in  the  South- 
west thirty-two  years  ago.     In  the  Southwest  she  did 
not  yield  without  a  fight.     But  in  the  Northwest  she 
will  yield  to   simple  firmness— because   she  will   never 
fight  that  old   Southwestern  battle  over  again  on  this 

continent." 

He  then  went  on  exhorting  his  friends  to  watch  these 


266     HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

two  danger-points.  He  said  his  own  work  was  done  as 
well  as  he  could  do  it,  and  nothing  now  remained  for 
him  but  to  die  as  became  an  old  soldier  and  a  man. 
*'But  of  all  things,"  he  repeated,  "never  once  take  your 
eyes  off  Texas  and  never  let  go  of  Fifty-four-forty!" 

This  was  the  legacy  he  left  to  his  stanchest  and  most 
stalwart  supporters  in  press  and  forum.  They  did  not 
keep  it  all.  But  they  managed  to  save  half  of  it.  They 
could  annex  Texas,  but  they  could  not  prevent  England 
from  cheating  their  country  out  of  its  great  ultramon- 
tane Northwest. 

Of  course,  the  foregoing  is  only  a  synopsis,  a  resume 
— only  two  quotations  of  his  own  phrase  being  offered. 
Governor  Allen,  describing  the  scene,  said  that  never 
before  had  anyone  present  heard  him  talk  so  calmly  or 
yet  so  eloquently.  Like  Washington's  Farewell  Address, 
it  blazed  the  path  of  duty  far  ahead. 

General  Jackson's  last  journey  from  W^ashington  to 
Tennessee,  from  the  White  House  to  the  Hermitage, 
was  slow.  He  stopped  often  to  rest  and  to  visit  old 
friends  by  the  wayside.  His  longest  stay  at  any  point 
was  a  fortnight  at  Cincinnati,  where  Senator  Allen 
joined  him  by  rapid  travel  when  the  Senate  adjourned, 
and  who,  having  legal  business  at  the  spring  term  of 
the  United  States  district  court  for  Tennessee,  went  on 
with  him  to  Nashville.  All  along  his  route  the  people 
wished  to  do  him  honor  in  the  old  way;  to  demonstrate 
that  the  prefix  of  "ex"  to  his  great  title  cut  no  figure 
in  their  admiration  or  their  fealty.  At  Pittsburg  he 
accepted  a  reception  and  banquet,  but  was  so  tired  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  reception  that  he  had  to  go  to  bed 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  367 

instead  of  to  the  dinner.  After  that  he  dedined  all 
demonstrations,  pleading  weariness  and  need  of  absolute 
rest;  and  the  people,  taking  him  at  his  word,  contented 
themselves  with  cheers  and  good  wishes  as  he  passed  by. 
However,  the  escape  from  cares,  the  invigorating  air  of 
the  mountains  and  the  valleys  and  the  gentle  recreation 
of  slow  and  careful  travel  told  for  good  upon  him,  and 
he  arrived  home  in  much  better  health  than  when  he  left 
the  Capital. 

Nashville  received  him  in  the  old  way,  and  there  he 
felt  well  enough  to  attend  a  banquet.  In  accordance  with 
his  own  earnestly  expressed  wish,  however,  it  was  much 
less  elaborate  and  briefer  than  its  numerous  predecessors 
had  been.  Among  those  present  was  Sarah  Childress 
Polk,  with  her  husband,  then  Speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  In  1875,  the  then  venerable  lady  de- 
scribed the  scene  to  the  author.  One  incident  involved 
enough  of  prophecy  to  make  it  worth  a  place  in  history : 
To  Speaker  Polk  was  accorded  the  pleasant  office  of 
"the  welcome  home."  At  the  close  of  his  little  speech 
he  said  "the  only  regret  anyone,  and  above  all  his  own 
home  friends  and  neighbors,  could  feel  was  that,  with 
the  coming  of  their  illustrious  fellow-citizen  back  to  their 
midst,  came  also  the  sad  fact  that  the  sceptre  had  passed 
from  Tennessee!" 

"I  sat  at  the  General's  left,"  said  Mrs.  Polk,  "and  the 
moment  my  husband  ceased  speaking,  the  General  leaned 
over  toward  me  and  said,  in  a  voice  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  the  whole  length  of  the  table :  'Never  mind  what 
he  says,  daughter;  the  sceptre  shall  come  back  to  Ten- 
nessee before  very  long,  and  your  own  fair  self  shall 
be  the  queen.'     I  was  young  then — only  thirty- four — 


368     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

and  little  hoped  for  the  destiny  that  awaited  me.  Cer- 
tainly I  did  not  for  a  moment  imagine  that,  at  forty-two, 
I  should  be  mistress  of  that  historic  mansion  to  whose 
traditions  the  old  General  had  just  added  so  much  glory ; 
but  so  it  proved.  Afterward,  in  the  light  of  other  things 
which  occurred,  I  came  to  believe  that  even  then,  in 
1837,  General  Jackson  had  my  husband  in  view  as  a 
probable  successor  to  Mr.  Van  Buren  after  eight  years. 
And  I  am  perfectly  sure  that  he  never  had  any  other 
in  his  mind  from  the  State  of  Tennessee."  * 

*  It  may  be  interesting  to  cite  here  the  evidence  of  Mrs.  Polk  upon  another 
question  ;  one  which  Mr.  Parton  seems  to  have  regarded  as  at  least  debata- 
ble. In  his  Life  of  Jackson  (Vol.  Ill,  p.  629),  speaking  of  the  ex-President's 
visit  to  General  Robert  Lytle  at  Cincinnati  on  the  way  home,  Mr.  Parton 
says  : 

"It  appears  to  rest  upon  good  testimony  that,  during  his  stay  at  Cin- 
cinnati, he  expressed  regret  at  having  become  estranged  from  Henry  Clay. 
Clay  and  himself,  he  said,  ought  to  have  been  friends  and  would  have  been, 
but  for  the  slanders  and  cowardice  of  an  individual  whom  he  denominated 
'that  Pennsylvania  reptile.'" 

The  probability  is  that  the  "good  testimony"  mentioned  by  Mr.  Parton 
existed  wholly  in  his  own  mind  and  was  the  offspring  of  his  own  immeas 
urable  admiration  for  Mr.  Clay  ;  a   sentiment  which,  all  through  his  vol- 
umes, leads  him  to  pose  as  the  apologist  for  Clay  on  every  point  of  issue 
between  that  great  man  and  Jackson. 

But  Mrs.  Polk,  who  knew  General  Jackson  from  her  own  girlhood  to 
his  grave  and  who  was  always  the  object  of  his  most  knightly  chivalry,  said 
to  the  author  in  describing  the  last  scenes  at  the  Hermitage:  "I  was  in 
Washington  when  the  General  passed  away,  which  was  only  about  three 
months — four  days  over  that  time,  to  be  exact — after  the  inauguration  of 
Mr.  Polk.  But  I  had  seen  him  frequently  when  at  home  and  had  been 
deeply  interested  in  his  religious  conversion.  After  that  event  he  loved  to 
tell  me  that  he  had  forgiven  this  one  and  that  one — mentioning  those  who 
had  been  bitter  and  unscrupulous  enemies.  But  never  once  the  name  of 
Henry  Clay  or  of  John  C.  Calhoun!  Do  not  understand  me  to  intimate 
that  he  still  felt  toward  them  the  unchristian  spirit  of  live  hatred  or  active 
unforgiveness.  But  I  do  believe  that,  in  the  regeneration  of  his  heart,  he 
had  simply  banished  both  of  them  and  all  thoughts  of  their  conduct  toward 
him  and  his,  and  every  impulse  of  retaliation,  utterly  from  his  mind  and  his 
soul." 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  369 

From  this  banquet  the  war-worn  and  time-worn  and 
state-worn  and  toil-worn  and  absolutely  honor-worn  old 
conqueror  of  his  country's  foes  and  defender  of  his 
people's  rights  was  at  last  permitted  to  go  home  to  his 
comfortable  and  quiet  Hermitage — in  peace,  perhaps? 
We  shall  see. 

When  General  Jackson  settled  down  at  the  Hermitage 
in  May,  1837,  to  eke  out,  as  he  thought,  his  few  remain- 
ing years  as  a  quiet  old  planter,  he  considered  himself 
a  poor  man.  He  had,  indeed,  the  most  productive  plan- 
tation of  its  size  in  the  Southwest — about  2,600  acres, 
all  told,  of  w^hich  more  than  half  was  under  cultivation. 
He  had  137  ''colored  folks,"  or  "servants"  as  he  used  to 
call  them,  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  and  of  them  perhaps 
eighty  or  ninety  could  be  considered  effective  field-hands 
or  house-servants. 

His  plantation  was  abundantly  stocked  with  fine  horses 

and  cattle,  and  he  had  beyond  question  the  best  overseer 

in  Tennessee.     History  has  not  handed  down  the  full 

name   of   this    distinguished    and    important   personage. 

All  we  know  of  him  is  that  the  General  used  to  call  him 

"Jason"  when  he  talked  about  him,  and  to  address  him 

as  "My  dear  Jason"  when  he  had  occasion  to  write  to 

him  from  the  White  House.     We  also  know  that,  on 

his  part,  Jason  used  to  proclaim,   in  season  or  out  of 

season,  that  "the  next  best  thing  to  having  a  plantation 

of  your  own  was  to  oversee  General  Jackson's."     It  is 

also  known  that  the  overseer  and  his  good  wife  were 

to  all  intents  and  purposes  members  of  the  Hermitage 

family,  and  usually  breakfasted  with  the  master,  at  which 

time  the  details  of  management  and  the  needs  of  the 

colored  people  would  be  discussed  and  provided  for. 
Vol.  II.— 24 


370     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

But  in  spite  of  all  these  pleasant  surroundings,  the 
General  owed  considerable  money — $6,000  in  one  sum, 
as  we  have  seen,  and  other  smaller  amounts,  making  a 
total  of  between  $9,000  and  $10,000.  This  made  him 
feel  poor,  because  to  him  debt  was  an  unmixed  curse 
and  a  constant  sorrow  to  be  assuaged  only  by  receipt 
in  full.  His  friends  in  Tennessee,  knowing  these  things, 
proposed  to  relieve  the  perplexities  of  the  old  gentleman 
by  taking  up  a  private  subscription  to  pay  off  his  debts. 
But  when  he  heard  of  it,  he  prohibited  the  scheme  as 
peremptorily  as  he  had  vetoed  the  Bank  re-charter,  and 
intimated  that,  though  pretty  old  and  somewhat  decrepit, 
he  could  still  take  care  of  himself. 

Before  he  had  been  home  very  long  he  began  to  realize, 
even  away  out  on  his  plantation  eleven  miles  from  town, 
that  1837  was  the  great  panic  year.  And  it  did  not 
mitigate  the  burdens  of  such  a  situation  when  he  read 
in  such  Whig  papers  as  happened  to  reach  him  that  it 
was  "a  Jackson  panic."  According  to  his  own  account, 
he  had  "only  ninety  dollars  of  ready  money  left  when 
he  got  home,  and  there  was  little  or  no  sale  for  anything 
the  farm  raised  that  season."  Besides  these  embarrass- 
ments, he  had  to  extricate  his  adopted  son  from  certain 
unfortunate  speculations  which,  though  not  involving 
large  sums,  were  troublesome  in  such  a  tight  money 
market  and  general  disturbance  of  trade.  These  condi- 
tions lasted  longer  than  the  panic  year  itself.  Cotton 
was  low  for  two  or  three  seasons.  The  borrowed  $6,000 
which  he  expected  to  pay  off  with  the  crop  of  1837 
dragged  along  and  was  not  fully  liquidated  till  the  crop 
of  1839  came  in. 

During   these   years   he   substantially   kept   the   word 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  371 

he  had  given  to  Benton,  Blair  and  Allen,  that  he  would 
wash  his  hands  of  politics.  But  after  a  while,  when  his 
business  affairs  got  in  better  shape  and  another  national 
campaign  approached,  the  old  war-horse  began  once  more 
to  sniff  the  battle  from  afar.  News  that  movements  were 
on  foot  to  defeat  the  renomination  of  Mr.  Van  Buren 
did  not  tend  to  promote  his  tranquillity.  He  had  ap- 
pointed his  successor  for  two  terms — not  merely  for  one 
— he  thought,  and  any  person  who  might  presume  to 
contest  the  legacy  must  reckon  with  him.  Thus  it  hap- 
pened that,  after  about  two  years  of  real  rest,  the  Gen- 
eral, in  1839,  resumed  his  wonted  personal  activity  in 
the  management  of  the  Democratic  party. 

The  result  was  that  from  that  time  until  the  con- 
vention of  1840  he  was  immersed  in  a  correspondence 
which  extended  over  all  the  country,  and  with  the  most 
prominent  and  powerful  men  in  active  political  life;  a 
correspondence  of  which  but  little  has  ever  come  to  the 
surface  of  history,  but  which,  to  judge  from  the  little 
that  has  been  published,  was  as  thoroughly  Jacksonian 
as  any  in  his  younger  days.  Early  in  1840,  before  the 
conventions  had  been  called,  it  became  a  foregone  con- 
clusion that  the  Whigs  would  renominate  General  Har- 
rison, notwithstanding  his  overwhelming  defeat  in  1836, 
and  the  utterances  of  Clay  and  Webster  indicated  that 
he  would  have  a  clear  field ;  that  the  Whigs  would  give 
him  their  united  and  enthusiastic  support. 

Sanguine  as  he  usually  was  in  any  emergency  that 
confronted  himself  or  his  friends,  General  Jackson  be- 
came somewhat  perplexed  in  1840.  He  w^as  even  heard 
to  say  that  ''things  look  a  little  dubious."  What  dis- 
turbed him  most  were  the  indications,  too  plain  to  be 


372     HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

unseen,  that  the  Southern  Democrats,  even  those  of  his 
own  Tennessee,  were  not  enthusiastic  for  Van  Buren. 
In  1838  James  K.  Polk,  his  own  protege  and  backed  by 
all  the  energy  that  was  left  in  the  old  Tennessee  "ma- 
chine" of  "Bill"  Carroll  and  "Billy"  Lewis,  had  only 
just  pulled  through  by  the  beggarly  account  of  2,500 
majority  in  the  hottest  canvass  and  the  fullest  vote  ever 
known  in  a  gubernatorial  canvass.  "By  gracious,  Will- 
iam," he  said  to  Carroll  when  this  result  was  announced, 
"I'm  afraid  the  State  is  slipping  away  from  us." 

"It's  not  only  slipping.  General,"  said  Carroll,  "but 
it's  already  slipped!  Those  corn-crackers  up  in  the 
mountains  [meaning  East  Tennessee]  are  all  Whigs 
now !" 

But  the  General  was  too  old  to  learn  new  tricks.  He 
could  not  conceive  that  his  own  Tennessee  was  departing 
from  him;  he  could  not  imagine  that  it  already  had 
"gone  over  to  the  enemy,"  as  he  was  wont  to  phrase  it. 
In  vain  his  closest  friends  expostulated  with  him  that 
Van  Buren  would  be  beaten  in  1840.  In  vain  they  re- 
minded him  that  Hugh  White — dead  and  gone  only  a 
month  ago  (April,  1840) — had  beaten  Van  Buren  in 
the  State  in  1836.  He  would  listen  to  nobody.  He 
would  hearken  to  nothing.  To  James  K.  Polk  he  said : 
"You  must  run  for  Vice-President;  that  will  save  the 
State."  * 

"But,  General,  it  will  not  save  our  party.  Besides, 
I  do  not  believe  it  would  save  our  own  State." 

"Do  you  then  mean  to  tell  me  that  Harrison  is  going 
to  be  elected?" 

"I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that,  General.     But  I  fear 

*  Reminiscence  of  Mrs.  Polk,  1875. 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  373 

that  Harrison  will  receive  the  electoral  vote  of  Tennessee 
in  spite  of  anything  and  everything  we  can  do." 

"Well,  Polk,  you  are  younger  than  I  am  and  your 
eyesight  is  better.  Maybe  you  can  see  things  that  I 
can't.  I'm  mighty  sorry  to  hear  you  talk  as  you  do. 
But  I  can't  help  it." 

The  Democrats  renominated  Van  Buren — more  be- 
cause Jackson  wanted  them  to  than  because  they  were 
willing  to. 

The  Whigs  renominated  Harrison — with  a  whoop, 
with  yells  for  Tippecanoe,  Log  Cabins  and  Hard  Cider! 

Very  soon  the  situation  grew  desperate.  General 
Jackson  himself  "took  the  stump,"  speaking  not  only  in 
West  Tennessee,  but  in  Southern  Kentucky.  They  ought 
not  to  have  put  the  old  man  on  the  stump.  It  was  not 
right  to  let  such  a  fame  as  his  so  becloud  its  own  twi- 
light. Yet  they  were  driven  to  all  resorts — no  matter 
how  desperate. 

In  his  "stumping  tour"  as  a  Van  Buren  "spellbinder," 
the  hero  of  New  Orleans — seventy-three  years  old  and 
feeble  at  that — was  almost  betrayed  by  his  passions  into 
aspersions  upon  Harrison  as  a  general.  We  all  know 
that  Harrison  was  not  a  statesman,  not  even  so  much 
of  a  statesman  as  Jackson ;  but  no  man  of  any  party  who 
has  ever  smelled  real  powder  can  survey  the  military 
records  of  the  Northwest  in  i8ii-'i3,  from  Tippecanoe 
to  Lake  Erie  and  the  Thames,  and  argue  from  them 
that,  as  a  soldier  and  a  fighting  general,  William  Henry 
Harrison  had  much,  if  any,  odds  to  ask  of  Andrew  Jack- 
son. But  when  Jackson,  in  1840,  questioned  the  soldier- 
ship and  the  generalship  of  Harrison  in  181 1-' 12  and 
*I3,  he  was  thinking  only  of  Harrison's  attitude  as  a 


374     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

member  of  Congress  in  1819.  Harrison  had  then  criti- 
cised the  hanging  of  Francis,  Himollomico  and  Arbuth- 
not  and  the  shooting  of  Ambrister.  He  had  intimated 
that  these  acts  were  cruel;  that  they  were,  at  least,  not 
such  acts  as  should  characterize  an  unopposed  victor 
dealing  with  a  prostrate  foe.  That  was  an  imputation 
Jackson  could  never  forgive.  But  his  effort  to  resent  it 
on  the  stump  in  1840  hurt  him  more  than  Harrison's 
speech  in  the  House  did  twenty-one  years  before.* 

What  a  long  chapter  a  really  strong  writer  can  com- 
press into  one  short  sentence!  Says  Dr.  \\^oodrow  Wil- 
son (History  of  the  American  People,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  84)  : 
''They  [the  Democrats]  seemed  to  have  lost  initiative 
when  they  lost  General  Jackson."  To  this  might  be 
added  the  remark  that  General  Jackson  himself  had  ''lost 

the  initiative"  when  he  took  the  stump  against  Harrison 

* 

*  Aue;ust  17,  1840,  Henry  Clay  made  a  speech  at  Nashville,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  said  that  "General  Jackson,  when  President,  had  appointed 
a  defaulter  Secretary  of  State  and  afterward  sent  him  as  minister  to  France. " 
This  referred  to  Edward  Livingston,  who  had  been  United  States  District 
Attorney  for  New  York  under  Jefferson's  administration  in  i8oi-'o2  and, 
through  error  or  malversation  on  the  part  of  his  fiscal  agent,  became  in- 
debted to  the  Federal  Government  in  a  large  sum,  for  which  he  confessed 
judgment  without  suit  and  to  pay  which  he  sacrificed  every  dollar  he  was 
worth  or  could  raise.  But  Clay,  with  his  customary  cunning,  omitted  to 
mention  this  fact. 

The  next  day  General  Jackson  replied  by  a  letter  printed  in  the  Nash- 
ville Union  setting  forth  the  real  facts  and  concluding  as  follows  : 

"Under  such  circumstances  how  contemptible  does  this  demagogue 
(Clay)  appear  when  he  descends  from  his  high  place  in  the  Senate  to  roam 
over  the  country  retailing  slanders  upon  the  living  and  the  dead  !" 

Clay  made  his  attack  upon  the  memory  of  Mr.  Livingston  (dead  since 
1836)  for  the  malicious  purpose  of  "rousing  the  old  Hon  of  the  Hermitage," 
as  his  own  friends  John  Bell  and  Ephraim  Foster  admitted,  and  he  gloated 
over  his  success.  Perhaps  this  incident  may  have  formed  some  of  Mr. 
Parton's  "good  testimony,"  mentioned  on  a  pre%'ious  page,  that  General 
Jackson  desired  a  "reconciliation"  with  Henry  Clay. 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  375 

in  his  old  age.  He  suggested  nothing  new.  He  only 
harped  upon  strings  the  touch  of  which  made  music  to 
him  but  not  to  the  younger  generation  he  addressed. 
All  the  people  to  whom  General  Jackson  spoke  in  1840 
listened  to  him  with  respect,  some  of  them  with  pain. 
Then  a  majority  of  them  went  and  voted  for  General 
Harrison — who  carried  Tennessee  by  over  12,000  ma- 
jority. 

General  Jackson  went  back  to  the  Hermitage  and  re- 
sumed his  planting.  General  Harrison  was  elected  Pres- 
ident. It  was  a  singular  campaign.  The  Whigs  gave 
out  no  ''platform"  except  the  name  of  their  candidate 
and  "Tippecanoe,"  just  as  the  Democrats  had  done  in 
1832 — no  platform  but  the  name  of  Jackson.  They  won 
by  234  to  60  electoral  votes.  Yet  that  large  majority 
of  electoral  votes  represented  aggregate  popular  major- 
ities of  only  50,214  in  a  total  vote  of  2,446,772. 

It  is  worth  while,  as  we  pass  by,  to  note  the  significance 
of  these  figures.  They  meant  a  vast  expansion  of  the 
elective  franchise.  The  number  of  voters  to  every  thou- 
sand of  population  was,  in  1840,  nearly  double  that 
which  it  had  been  in  1824;  over  fifty  per  cent,  more  than 
in  1832.  Restrictions  of  any  considerable  effect  existed 
only  in  Rhode  Island  and  South  Carolina.  One  by  one 
the  ''qualifications"  of  suffrage,  so  dear  to  the  ancient 
oligarchy  of  Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  had  disap- 
peared. Of  course,  all  this  had  been  the  work  of  the 
several  States.  The  Federal  government  had  nothing  to 
do  with  it.  There  were  no  Fourteenth  and  Fifteenth 
Amendments  then.  Yet  this  progress  of  enfranchise- 
ment, though  not  the  work  of  Jackson's  brain  or  hands, 
w^as  the  working  of  the  spirit  and  the  aspirations  which 


J7 


6      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 


Jacksonism  had  quickened  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
It  was  the  era,  not  the  man.  Van  Buren,  though  beaten 
''out  of  sight"  in  the  electoral  college,  was  still  the 
choice  of  over  forty-nine  per  cent,  of  the  people. 

General  Jackson  took  his  defeat  in  1840  philosophically 
and  at  once  began  to  lay  plans  for  retrieval  of  the  Demo- 
cratic ascendancy  in  1844.  We  say  ''his  defeat"  ad- 
visedly, because  he  viewed  it  as  such  and,  in  accordance 
with  his  invariable  custom,  "cheerfully  took  all  the  re- 
sponsibility." About  the  first  conclusion  he  reached  after 
a  thorough  review  of  the  situation  was  that  the  next 
Democratic  candidate  must  be  a  Western  man.  He  had 
not  lost  personal  faith  in  or  regard  for  Van  Buren,  but 
he  realized  and  frankly  said  to  his  intimate  friends  that 
Van  Buren  could  not  carry  Western  States  against  a 
Western  man,  and  that,  besides,  it  would  be  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  for  him  to  receive  a  cordial  support  in 
the  South.  According  to  General  William  O.  Butler 
and  Governor  Allen,  the  General  did  not  decide  definitely 
the  question  of  a  successor  to  Van  Buren  until  1843. 
Mr.    Blair   believed   his   first   choice   was   Benton,*   and 

*  When  Congress  adjourned  in  1841,  William  O.  Butler  (then  a  member 
from  Kentucky)  and  Senators  Benton  and  Allen  came  home  together. 
While  on  the  boat  coming  down  the  river  from  Pittsburg,  General  Butler 
mentioned  his  intention  of  visiting  Nashville  after  spending  a  few  days  at 
Carrollton. 

"You  will,  of  course,  go  out  to  the  Hermitage  and  see  the  Old  Man," 
suggested  Benton. 

"Naturally,"  said  Butler. 

"Let  me  offer  you  a  little  advice.  You  are  for  me  in  '44,  as  I  understand 
it?" 

"Yes  ;  subject  of  course  to  conditions  now  unforeseen  which  may  arise 
in  the  meantime." 

"That  goes  without  saying." 

"Well,  I  have  reason  to  believe — though  I  do  not  pretend  to  exact  Knowl- 
edge— that  the  General  is  for  me  at  this  time  and  has  held  that  preference 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  377 

that  view  was  shared  by  Benton  himself.  Allen  also 
looked  upon  himself  for  a  time  as  the  General's  possible 
second  choice ;  but  he  told  the  author  that  this  aspiration 
was  abandoned  by  him  as  soon  as  General  Lewis  Cass 
w^as  mentioned  in  the  lists.  Allen  was  young — only 
thirty-six — and  could  wait.  But,  whatever  the  hopes  of 
any  aspirant — Benton,  Cass,  Allen  or  Polk — all  agreed 
that  the  final  decision  would  rest  with  General  Jackson. 
In  this  way  things  drifted.  The  sudden  death  of  Gen- 
eral Harrison  and  the  succession  of  Tyler  modified  the 
General's  calculations  between  1841  and  1844.  Among 
other  things  it  put  Clay  on  the  track  again,  and  no  one 
was  quicker  to  perceive  that  fact  than  General  Jackson. 
In  his  mind  it  complicated  the  situation  so  far  as  Benton 
was  concerned.  As  against  Harrison  he  would  have 
nominated  Benton.  But  as  against  Clay  it  might  become 
necessary  to  take  up  a  Democratic  soldier.  From  this 
point  of  view  General  Cass,  of  Michigan,  Colonel  Robert 
Lytle,  of  Ohio,  or  William  O.  Butler,  of  Kentucky,  would 
be  available.  Benton,  though  he  held  a  commission  in 
1 8 12,  had  no  actual  service  record  in  campaign  or  battle. 
As  it  turned  out,  the  General  ran  Butler  for  governor 
of  Kentucky  in  1844 — not  with  much  hope  of  his  elec- 

ever  since  the  count  of  the  votes  last  fall.  In  fact,  I  believe,  also,  he  now 
regrets  that  he  did  not  nominate  me  instead  of  Van  Buren  in  1836.  At 
least,  I  am  sure  he  thinks  I  would  not  have  made  such  a  mess  of  it  as  Van 
has  made.  Then  there  is  another  thing  nobody  seems  to  have  talked  of  as 
yet." 

"What  is  that?" 

"Why,  it  is  the  fact  that  the  Abolitionists  have  pushed  the  slavery  ques- 
tion and  are  pushing  it  in  a  way  calculated  to  bring  it  to  the  front  in  1844. 
And  Van  Buren  is  known  to  Jackson  and  to  me  as  being  unsound  on  that 
issue.  Draw  the  old  General  out  in  your  own  quiet  way  on  this  subject. 
You  know,  Butler,  he  never  has  any  secrets  from  men  who  were  with  him 
at  New  Orleans." 


378      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

tion,  but  for  the  purpose  of  making  things  Hvely  for 
Mr.  Clay  in  his  own  State.  Butler  did  better  than  Jack- 
son anticipated.  He  cut  the  \Miig  majority  of  nearly 
thirty  thousand  in  1840  down  to  forty-two  hundred  in 
1844.  I^^  the  General's  letter  of  congratulation  to  Butler 
he  said:  'T  believe  if  you  had  been  running  for  President 
instead  of  governor  you  would  have  beaten  Clay  in  his 
own  State."  General  Butler  had  this  letter  when  the 
author  visited  him  in  1873. 

The  Democratic  nomination  for  the  presidency  in  1844 
turned  wholly  upon  the  annexation  of  Texas.  General 
Jackson  tried  with  all  the  strength  that  lingered  in  his 
feeble  hands  to  have  the  Oregon  boundary  on  the  basis 
of  "Fifty-four-forty"  made  also  a  cardinal  plank  in  the 
Democratic  platform  of  that  year,  but  in  this  he  prac- 
tically failed.  The  convention,  to  appease  him,  declared 
that  ''Oregon  should  be  reoccVipied."  But  at  the  moment 
when  that  was  done  the  convention  was  under  control 
of  a  pro-slavery  faction  wdiich  had  secretly  resolved  to 
give  the  disputed  territory  to  England  in  pursuance  of 
their  policy  that  no  more  free  soil  should  be  permitted 
to  come  into  the  Union.  In  other  words,  the  pro-slavery 
faction  of  the  Democratic  party  in  1844  deliberately  de- 
ceived General  Jackson,  hoping  that,  as  he  was  now  in 
his  seventy-eighth  year,  he  would  die  before  it  might 
become  necessary  to  carry  their  base  and  dastardly  pro- 
gramme into  effect.  In  this,  it  is  needless  to  remark, 
their  calculations  were  sustained  by  events. 

While  these  operations  were  going  on  within  the 
Democratic  party,  Mr.  Tyler's  Secretary  of  State,  John 
C.  Calhoun,  induced  that  unfortunate  President,  on  April 
12,  1844,  to  send  to  the  Senate  a  treaty  for  the  annexa- 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  379 

tion  of  Texas.  This  stroke,  which  was  wholly  unex- 
pected, Mr.  Calhoun  hoped  would  confuse  the  Jackson 
Democracy  by  anticipating  one  of  their  leading  points 
of  party  policy.  At  the  same  time  he  was,  on  behalf 
of  the  pro-slavery  faction,  carrying  on  the  diplomatic 
correspondence  with  Great  Britain  which  laid  a  basis 
for  the  surrender  of  the  Oregon  boundary  two  years 
later.  But  so  far  as  concerned  Texas,  his  strategy  was 
summarily  defeated  by  the  Senate,  which  rejected  his 
surreptitious  treaty  by  a  decisive  vote — on  which,  for  the 
first  and  only  time,  the  Whigs  and  Jackson  Democrats 
joined  forces. 

The  nomination  of  James  K.  Polk  in  1844  was  the 
result  of  an  all-round  compromise.  He  was  acceptable 
to  General  Jackson  on  grounds  of  personal  friendship, 
unlimited  confidence  and,  above  all,  residence  in  Ten- 
nessee. A  letter  written  by  the  General  early  in  1843 
to  Representative  Brown,  of  Tennessee,  on  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas,  was  used  in  the  convention  efTectively 
against  Mr.  Van  Buren.  When  the  General  wrote  that 
letter  he  did  not  know  that  Van  Buren  was  opposed  to 
annexation — or  at  least  to  the  immediate  action  to  that 
end  upon  which  Jackson  insisted.  The  use  of  the  letter 
for  that  purpose  annoyed  him,  and  he  tried  to  explain 
it  in  another  letter  to  Mr.  Van  Buren  himself.  But  his 
effort  at  explanation  served  only  to  emphasize  the  letter 
he  had  written  to  Representative  Brown. 

Though  past  the  age  of  seventy-seven  when  Mr.  Polk 
was  nominated.  General  Jackson  ''took  ofT  his  coat."  as 
the  saying  is,  and  exhausted  what  little  physical  strength 
remained  to  him  in  active  and  potent  advocacy  of  his 
election.     No  longer  able  to  write  with  his  own  hand 


jSo     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

more  than  a  few  lines  at  a  time,  he  kept  a  secretary — 
and  sometimes  two — busy  at  the  Hermitage  throughout 
the  campaign  taking  dictations,  and  reading  to  him  the 
newspaper  accounts  from  day  to  day.  In  his  letter  to 
Representative  Brown  he  made  certain  comments  upon 
the  diplomacy  of  Monroe's  administration,  when  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  Secretary  of  State.  The  treaty  with 
Spain,  by  which  Florida  was  ceded  in  1819,  provided 
that  our  Southwestern  boundary  should  be  the  Sabine 
River  instead  of  the  Rio  Grande.  Speaking  of  this  event 
in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Brown,  General  Jackson  said,  under 
date  of  February  12,  1843  : 

"1  could  not  but  feel  that  the  surrender  of  so  vast  and 
important  a  territory  was  attributable  to  an  erroneous 
estimate  of  the  tendency  of  our  institutions  in  which  was 
mingled  somewhat  of  jealousy  to  the  rising  greatness 
of  the  South  and  West." 

This  obvious  reference  to  the  traditional  opposition  of 
New  England  to  territorial  extension  and  the  creation 
of  new^  States  in  the  W^est  and  South  provoked  an  angry 
retort  from  Mr.  Adams,  and  a  correspondence  ensued 
the  temper  of  which,  on  both  sides — considering  the  su- 
preme eminence  of  the  disputants — was  not  sufficiently 
creditable  to  either  to  encourage  its  reproduction  here. 
It  served,  however,  to  show  that  Mr.  Adams  had  a 
much  clearer  view  of  the  fact  that  slavery  was  already 
a  great  issue  and  of  imminent  peril  to  the  Union  than 
General  Jackson  held. 

Mr.  Polk  was  elected  by  a  decisive  majority  in  the 
electoral  colleges,  but  he  did  not  receive  quite  a  clear 
popular  majority  over  the  combined  vote  for  Mr.  Clay 
and  that  polled  by  the  ^'Liberty  party,"  or  the  Abolition- 


PARTY  LEADER  AT  THE  HERMITAGE  381 

ists,  which  ran  up  to  the  then  astonishing  figure  of 
67,000.  With  his  inauguration  the  great,  overshadowing 
and  "irrepressible"  conflict  over  slavery  may  be  said  to 
have  begun.  Congress  took  the  result  as  a  popular  ver- 
dict in  favor  of  annexation,  and  the  last  act  of  President 
Tyler  was  to  sign,  late  at  night,  March  3,  1845,  ^  joint 
resolution  admitting  Texas  to  the  Union;  a  resolution 
passed  in  the  Senate  by  the  solid  Democratic  vote  with 
that  of  the  Southern  Whigs — and  in  the  Democratic 
House  under  suspension  of  the  rules. 

Thus  was  General  Jackson's  candidate  elected  and  one 
of  his  two  cardinal  policies  carried  into  immediate  effect 
by  the  campaign  of  1844.  Naturally  his  joy  was  very 
great.  He  testified  to  it  by  a  grand  garden-party  and 
barbecue  at  the  Hermitage,  attended  by  the  whole  coun- 
tryside and  as  many  prominent  Democrats  from  a  dis- 
tance as  could  get  there  in  time.  On  this  occasion  he 
made  a  little  speech  from  the  portico  of  the  Hermitage. 
It  was,  of  course,  extempore,  and  only  two  sentences  of 
it  were  preserved :  "We  have  restored  the  government 
to  sound  principles  and  extended  the  area  of  our  insti- 
tutions to  the  Rio  Grande!  Now  for  Oregon  and  Fifty- 
four- forty  !" 

"Or  fight!"  added  young  John  Calvin  Brown,  then  a 
boy  of  seventeen,  in  the  audience;  afterward  governor 
of  Tennessee. 

General  Jackson  spied  the  boy  and  laughed.  "Yes, 
Johnny,"  he  said,  "if  we  have  to.  I've  fought  some 
battles  for  the  Southwest  end  of  this  Union  and,  old  as 
I  am,  I  reckon  there's  one  more  left  in  me  for  its  North- 
west end  if  need  be!" 

Mr.  Polk  consulted  him  on  the  selection  of  his  Cabinet. 


382      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

He  approved  all  but  the  first  name — that  of  James 
Buchanan  for  Secretary  of  State.  At  that  name  he 
shook  his  head.  He  recalled  Buchanan's  action  in  the 
"treason,  stratagem  and  spoils  infamy"  of  1825,  as  he 
called  it ;  declared  that  he  was  a  man  destitute  of  cour- 
age and,  as  he  believed,  ''not  overburdened  with  scruples 
of  honor."  He  called  Mr.  Polk's  attention  to  the  fact 
that  as  Secretary  of  State,  Buchanan  would  have  to  deal 
with  any  questions  that  might  arise  over  the  Northwest 
boundary.  For  such  a  task,  he  declared,  "a  man  of 
proved  courage,  faultless  honor  and  unflinching  patriot- 
ism" was  imperatively  required.  And  he  emphatically 
added  that  Buchanan  was  not  that  kind  of  man.  Gov- 
ernor Allen  informed  the  author  that  General  Jackson 
wanted  Polk  to  offer  the  portfolio  of  State  to  Benton; 
and  he  believed  Benton  could  have  had  it  if  he  would 
have  taken  it.  'Tf  Benton  "had  been  Polk's  Secretary 
of  State,"  concluded  the  venerable  governor  of  Ohio  in 
1875,  "there  never  would  have  been  any  such  name  on 
the  map  as  British  Columbia!" 


CHAPTER    XIV 

CHARACTER   AND    PERSONALITY 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1845  the  General's  health 
began  to  fail  rapidly.  On  the  4th  of  March,  the  day 
of  Polk's  inauguration,  he  was  for  several  hours  given 
up  by  everybody  at  the  Hermitage — except  himself. 
Though  he  could  talk  only  in  hoarse  whispers,  con- 
stantly interrupted  by  hemorrhage,  he  repeatedly  de- 
clared that  his  time  had  not  yet  come — "at  least,  not 
quite,"  he  said;  and  the  iron  w^ill  pulled  him  through. 

From  this  attack  he  soon  rallied.  In  a  few  days  he 
was  out  of  doors,  and  during  April  and  most  of  May 
was  as  well  as  at  any  time  for  two  or  three  years.  But 
that  was  not  being  well  by  any  means.  He  was  slowly 
becoming  weaker,  dropsical  symptoms  having  made  their 
appearance.  The  last  time  he  ever  stood  on  his  feet  in 
the  open  air  was  Saturday  morning,  May  23,  1845.  ^^ 
lived  sixteen  days  after  that,  but  was  unable  to  leave 
his  room.  His  sufferings  during  this  period  were  aggra- 
vated by  the  fact  that  his  cough  precluded  repose  in  bed ; 
and  the  only  semblance  of  comfort  he  could  find  was  in 
sitting  upright  in  the  great  arm-chair  of  hickory-poles 
made  for  him  by  his  admirers  in  the  presidential  cam- 
paign of  1824  and  softened  by  ample  cushions  which 
Mrs.  Jackson  had  quilted  with  her  own  hands. 

Of  course,  when  a  man  has  reached  the  age  of  seventy- 

383 


384      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

eight,  he  must  be  prepared  to  die.  Jackson  reahzed  that 
fact  and  braved  it  with  the  fortitude  which  had  nerved 
him  to  suffer  the  blow  of  the  British  officer's  sabre  rather 
than  clean  the  officer's  boots  when  he  was  a  boy  of 
thirteen  and  a  prisoner  of  war  in  1780;  a  fortitude  that 
had  never  left  him  for  a  moment  in  any  peril  or  under 
any  anguish.  Most  of  his  immediate  friends  and  mem- 
bers of  his  family  believed  that  his  remarkable  exertions 
and  excitements  in  the  campaign  of  1844  exhausted  the 
slender  stock  of  vitality  which  was  yet  in  him,  and  that, 
had  he  spared  himself  that  ordeal,  he  might  have  lingered 
to  pass  the  fourscore  milestone  of  life. 

Said  Mrs.  Polk  to  the  author:  ''It  has  ever  been  a 
sad  thought  to  me  that  General  Jackson  may  have  cut 
short  the  little  span  of  years  nature  might  have  left  him 
by  his  remarkable  efforts  in  support  of  Mr.  Polk  during 
the  campaign  of  1844.  I  saw  him  more  than  once  that 
summer,  and  he  invariably  said  to  me :  'Never  fear, 
daughter,  I  will  put  you  in  the  White  House  you  can  so 
adorn  if  it  costs  me  my  life!'  I  did  not  realize  the 
full  force  of  his  words  then ;  but  when  the  tidings  of 
his  passing  away  came  to  me,  I  was  in  the  White  House, 
and  the  news  made  me — "  [Here  the  venerable  lady 
left  the  room  abruptly  and  did  not  return  for  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  when  the  condition  of  her  eyes  told  that  she 
had  been  overcome  by  her  memories.] 

"But,"  she  resumed,  "it  was  his  nature  to  do  things 
that  way.  Of  some  men  you  will  hear  it  said  that  they 
were  either  for  or  against  something.  General  Jackson 
was  always  for  something.  Of  course,  in  being  for  one 
thing  he  always  must  be  against  some  other  thing,  its 
opposite  or  antithesis.     But  the  'being   for'   was  what 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   385 

filled  his  soul.  The  being  against  was  secondary  or  in- 
cidental— necessary  and  unavoidable,  as  a  rule.  But 
nothing  ever  delighted  him  so  much  as  to  find  the  thing 
he  was  for  unopposed.  Everybody  will  tell  you  that  he 
liked  to  fight  for  fighting's  sake.  As  one  who  knew  him 
from  childhood,  one  whose  father  was  his  friend  and 
fellow-pioneer,  one  who  when  a  wee  child  sat  on  his 
knee  in  the  days  when  most  of  his  repute  was  that  of 
a  fighting  man,  I  tell  you  he  fought,  not  for  fighting's 
sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  cause  or  the  woman  he 
revered  and  loved." 

Here  the  illustrious  lady  paused  for  a  few  minutes, 
as  if  overcome  by  her  own  eloquence.  Again  resuming, 
she  said  that  the  General  took  much  greater  interest  in 
the  campaign  of  1844  than  in  that  of  1840  and  exerted 
himself  more,  while  his  powers  of  endurance  were  of 
course  much  less  at  seventy-seven  than  they  had  been 
at  seventy-three.  "The  campaign  of  1840,"  she  pursued, 
"was  defensive;  merely  holding,  or  trying  to  hold,  one's 
own.  That  kind  of  battle,  while  it  challenged  some  of 
his  combative  energies,  did  not  evoke  all  or  even  the 
best  of  them.  In  defence  he  was,  of  course,  grand.  But 
in  1844  the  campaign  was  one  of  attack — to  wrest  from 
the  enemy  a  position  they  held.  That  w^as  the  kind  of 
struggle  that  stirred  every  drop  of  his  blood  and  strung 
every  fibre  in  his  body.  In  defence,  I  said,  he  was  grand. 
But  in  attack,  there  never  was  and  never  will  or  can  be 
another  leader  like  him." 

This,  viewed  as  a  picture  of  Jackson  and  as  an  analysis 

of  his  character  in  party  leadership,  is  so  much  better 

and  more  graphic  in  its  simplicity  than  anything  we 

could  write,  that  we  leave  it  here  without  comment,  just 
Vol.  II.— 25 


386     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

as  it  stands.  It  shows  also  the  unconscious  stateswoman 
in  Mrs.  Polk  herself.  She  never  had  an  intellectual 
superior  in  the  White  House, 

It  has  been  noted  that  when  General  Jackson  left 
Washington  in  March,  1837,  at  the  end  of  eight  years 
in  the  presidency,  he  was  compelled  to  borrow  a  con- 
siderable sum  to  settle  his  accounts  of  a  personal  nature 
— mainly,  if  not  altogether,  due  to  the  insufficiency  of 
his  official  salary  and  allowances,  together  with  the  cur- 
rent earnings  of  his  plantation,  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
the  establishment  he  maintained  in  the  White  House. 
This  debt  he  finished  paying  in  the  fall  of  1839.  But 
soon  after  that  his  adopted  son  encountered  misfortune 
in  certain  speculations,  and  to  extricate  him  from  their 
financial  consequences  the  General  had  to  borrow  about 
$16,000.  Of  this  amount  he  obtained  $6,000  from  his 
factors  (cotton  brokers)  in  New  Orleans,  J.  B.  Planchine 
and  Company,  and  $10,000  from  Messrs.  Blair  and 
Rives,  proprietors  of  the  Washington  Globe. 

Various  causes  conspired  to  prevent  him  from  liquidat- 
ing these  debts  during  his  lifetime.  Therefore,  in  1843, 
he  was  compelled  to  make  a  new  will  and  testament  to 
take  the  place  of  one  which  had  been  made  shortly  after 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Jackson.  The  new  will  provided  first 
for  the  payment  of  these  two  debts,  which  were  expressly 
set  forth  in  its  text,  together  with  all  other  dues  from 
him  to  others  not  enumerated.  It  then  made  a  number 
of  special  bequests,  mostly  in  slaves  or  in  relics  and 
mementoes  to  particular  individuals,  and  finally  devised 
the  residue  of  the  estate  to  his  adopted  son,  Andrew 
Jackson,  Jr.  Just  how  much  was  left  after  paying  the 
debts  is  not  of  apparent  record,  as  the  executor  was  also 


CHARACTER    AND    PERSONALITY      387 

the  beneficiary  of  the  residue  and  no  bond  or  accounting 
was  exacted  from  him  except  the  receipts  of  creditors, 
the  court  not  deeming  it  necessary  to  require  receipts 
for  the  keepsakes  from  those  to  whom  they  were  given. 
The  General's  adopted  son  was  never  prominent  ex- 
cept through  the  fame  of  the  name  he  bore.  He  was 
the  son  of  Savern  Donelson,  Mrs.  Jackson's  brother,  and 
was  born  in  1806.  Those  of  the  older  generation  in 
Tennessee  and  others  who  knew  him  personally  describe 
him  as  a  handsome,  genial,  generous  fellow,  either  as 
boy  or  man ;  bright  at  school  and  popular  in  young  man- 
hood. The  author  once  asked  an  elderly  lady  of  Nash- 
ville— a  relative,  by  the  way,  of  Sarah  Yorke,  whom  the 
adopted  son  married — what  her  recollections  were  of 
Andrew  Jackson,  Jr.  She  replied :  ''Well,  he  was  all 
Donelson.  If  you  don't  know  what  that  means,  I  will 
tell  you.  The  Donelsons  were  a  large  family,  and  they 
had  more  uniformity  of  character  and  temperament  than 
I  have  ever  known  to  exist  among  so  many.  They  were 
all  fine-looking  people,  both  sexes  alike.  Some  of  the 
girls  in  the  second  and  third  generations  were  very  beau- 
tiful. The  men  were  high-spirited,  and  most  of  them 
were  a  good  deal  above  mediocrity  in  mind  and  attain- 
ments. The  smartest  of  them  was  the  General's  name- 
sake, Andrew  Jackson  Donelson — or  'Jack,'  as  he  was 
usually  called  about  here  in  those  days.  He  was  really 
a  man  of  unusual  ability  and  noble  character.  I  always 
thought  if  he  had  been  left  to  himself  he  would  have 
carved  out  a  fortune  of  his  own.  But  he  spent  twenty 
or  more  of  his  best  years  either  in  the  regular  army  or 
in  personal  service  to  his  uncle,  the  General.  He  grad- 
uated very  near  the  head  of  his  class  at  West  Point. 


388     HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

But  he  remained  with  or  near  the  General  till  he  was  over 
forty  years  of  age.  After  that  he  held  several  important 
offices  at  home  and  abroad,  and  was  at  one  time  editor 
of  a  paper  in  Washington.  Yes,  'J^^k'  was  the  ablest 
of  all  the  Donelsons. 

*The  one  whom  the  General  adopted  was  a  fine  fellow 
in  every  way,  and  his  wife,  Sarah  Yorke,  was  one  of 
the  nicest  women  I  ever  knew.  But  young  'Andy,'  as 
we  generally  called  him,  was  not  adapted  to  business 
pursuits.  He  was  either  'unlucky,'  as  people  say,  or 
else  he  was  born  to  be  one  of  those  whom  the  Scotch 
call  'ne'er-do-weels.'  I  don't  know  which  it  was.  But 
I  do  know  that,  though  he  was  temperate  and  diligent, 
he  never  seemed  to  prosper  on  his  own  account,  and 
the  General  always  helped  him  more  or  less.  And  he 
was  always  helping  all  the  Donelsons,  as  much  as  they 
would  let  him.  But  they  were  proud  people,  and  did 
not  wish  to  be  looked  upon  as  dependents — not  even 
upon  the  good-will  of  so  great  a  man  as  the  General. 
You  see.  General  Jackson  loved  Aunt  Rachel  so  that 
he  looked  upon  all  her  relations  as  his  own  blood  kin, 
and  having  none  of  his  own,  you  might  say  almost  that 
he  adopted  the  whole  family — and  they  were  numerous. 
I  was  born  in  1800  and  lived  near  Clover  Bottom,  so  I 
knew  the  Jackson  and  Donelson  families  as  soon  as  I 
got  old  enough  to  know  anybody.  Yes,  they  were  the 
nicest  kind  of  people,  even  if  they  did  not  prosper  over- 
much, and  the  General  was  not  by  any  means  alone  in 
liking  them.  Everybody  liked  them  and  they  liked  every- 
body. This  was  perfectly  true  of  'Andy,'  and  that  is 
one  reason  why  I  said  he  was  a  thorough  Donelson, 
even  if  he  was  sometimes  unlucky  in  his  ventures  and 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   389 

cost  his  adopted  father  a  good  deal  one  time  and 
another." 

During  the  Hfetime  of  Mrs.  Jackson,  who,  as  we  have 
seen  from  her  letters  and  her  ways,  was  a  devout  Chris- 
tian, the  General  often  promised  her  that  ''as  soon  as 
he  got  out  of  public  life  he  would  join  the  church." 
Rough  as  his  nature  was  in  many  respects  and  fierce  as 
his  career  may  have  been,  Andrew  Jackson  was  filled  with 
the  instincts  of  purity  and  the  impulses  of  righteousness. 
For  example,  when  he  heard  of  the  death  of  Aaron  Burr, 
in  1836,  he  said  to  Mr.  Blair  that  "Burr  came  within 
one  trait  of  the  most  exalted  greatness." 

"What  was  that?"  asked  Mr.  Blair. 

"Reverence,  sir,  reverence,"  replied  the  General  sol- 
emnly. "I  don't  care  how  smart  or  how  highly  educated 
or  how  widely  experienced  a  man  may  be  in  this  world's 
affairs,  unless  he  reveres  something  and  believes  in  some- 
body beyond  his  own  self,  he  will  fall  short  somewhere. 
That  was  the  trouble  with  Burr.  I  saw  it  when  I  first 
met  him  at  Philadelphia  in  1796.  I  was  a  raw  back- 
woodsman, but  had  sense  enough  to  see  through  men  a 
good  deal  smarter  than  I  could  ever  hope  to  be  myself. 
I  liked  him  and  for  many  things  admired  him.  But  I 
never  could  get  over  that  one  impression  that  he  was 
irreverent.  And  that  was  what  stood  in  his  way.  I 
remember  reading  away  back  yonder  how  he  said,  when 
he  read  Hamilton's  farewell  letter,  that  'it  sounded  like 
the  confession  of  a  penitent  monk.'  I  thought  then, 
Blair,  that  if  I  had  killed  a  man  as  he  killed  Hamilton, 
even  if  I  had  thought  such  a  thing,  I  would  leave  it  for 
somebody  else  to  say.  In  the  inner  circles  of  my  friends 
I  have  once  or  twice  spoken  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  charac- 


390     HISTORY    OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

ter  as  I  knew  it  to  be,  but  never  publicly  or  for  the 
world  to  hear  or  read.  Yes,  Blair,  a  man  must  revere 
something  or,  no  matter  how  smart  or  brave  he  is,  he 
will  die  as  Burr  died  in  New  York  the  other  day,  friend- 
less and  alone." 

This  estimate  of  Burr  is  more  valuable  as  an  index 
to  Jackson's  character  than  as  an  analysis  of  Burr's, 
though  it  is  undeniably  just  in  any  sense. 

In  regard  to  General  Jackson's  formal  communion  with 
the  Orthodox  Presbyterian  Church  in  1843,  ^^'^  think 
it  may  be  safely  described  as  the  outward  manifesta- 
tion of  a  change  of  heart  which  really  began  with  the 
passing  of  Mrs.  Jackson  in  1828.  In  our  own  observa- 
tion we  have  seen  and  known  some  men  as  obdurate, 
as  exultantly  brave,  as  heedless  of  danger,  as  stoical 
under  bodily  pain,  and,  generally  speaking,  as  hard  and 
grim  as  Jackson  may  have  been  at  his  worst,  to  be  soft- 
ened, chastened  and  subdued  suddenly  and  permanently 
by  some  irreparable  bereavement  that  inflicted  an  un- 
speakable sorrow,  never  to  be  assuaged.  It  usually  hap- 
pens that  the  bravest  and  hardest  men,  if  they  be  men 
of  chivalry  and  honor,  are  the  tenderest  lovers.  That 
these  words  describe  General  Jackson,  we  do  not  think 
any  close  student  of  his  nature  will  try  to  gainsay.  Now, 
such  a  man  may  be  very  wicked  in  the  common  accepta- 
tion of  that  term,  so  long  as  no  great  shock  comes  to  his 
brain  and  heart,  to  teach  him — with  all  the  force  of  a 
rifle-bullet  but  without  its  deadliness — that  this  life  is 
not  all  in  what  we  see  to-day  or  may  have  seen  yesterday. 
Time  and  again  have  we  seen  such  men  take  their  first 
glimpse  of  the  soul's  immortality  in  a  hope,  vague  and 
shadowy  at  first,  but  constant  within  them  and  always 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   391 

growing,  that  they  may,  when  this  Hfe  is  done,  meet  and 
greet  once  more  and  forever  the  loved  one  in  the  realm 
of  God's  Eternity. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  we  think,  that  this  preparation 
for  the  Christian  change,  if  not  the  change  itself,  crept 
over  the  heart  and  through  the  soul  of  Andrew  Jackson 
when  he  consigned  to  the  Hermitage  garden  the  mortal 
ashes  of  his  Rachel.  At  any  rate,  we  know  that  from 
that  moment  he  mended  the  ways  of  his  life.  He  sub- 
dued his  daily  walk  and  he  modulated  his  daily  conver- 
sation. True,  his  temper  rose  now  and  then — but  so 
does  the  wrath  of  the  righteous.  One  need  not  be  a 
sheep  to  be  a  Christian.  But  on  the  whole  the  Jackson 
who  survived  "Aunt  Rachel"  was  a  different  man  from 
the  one  she  called  husband  in  her  lifetime;  a  milder, 
gentler-spoken,  more  tender-voiced  and  more  reverent 
man  than  she  had  ever  known.  The  love  he  bore  to  her 
in  the  body  seemed  to  follow  her  soul  away  somewhere, 
he  knew  not  where,  but  he  did  know  that  it  followed  her 
spirit ;  and  in  his  rugged,  strife-scarred,  storm-beaten  and 
pain-seared  simplicity  of  manhood,  that  itself  was  a  re- 
ligion. These  observations — trite  in  themselves,  may- 
hap— lead  us  irresistibly  to  the  conclusion  that,  when 
General  Jackson  formally  and  outwardly  "joined  the 
church,"  in  1843,  he  only  avowed  in  the  sight  of  men  a 
faith  he  had  long  ago  confessed  to  God  Almighty  in  the 
silent  sanctuary  of  his  own  soul. 

In  this  train  of  thought  we  have  been  led  farther  into 
— or  toward — the  labyrinth  of  spiritual  disquisition  than 
was  our  initial  purpose.  Suffice  to  say,  therefore,  that 
when  the  old  General  joined  the  church  in  1843  he  did 
it,  as  he  had  done  everything  else  all  through  his  many 


392      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

and  marvellous  years,  with  all  his  heart  and  all  his  mind 
and  all  his  might  and  all  his  being. 

There  was  nothing  particularly  out  of  the  common 
in  the  death  of  General  Jackson.  A  few  hours  before 
the  end  came  he  found  strength  to  sign  a  letter  to 
President  Polk,  dictated  the  night  before,  exhorting  him 
to  stand  firm  on  the  Oregon  boundary-line  of  'Tifty- 
four-forty." 

When  he  had  signed  it  he  said  he  hoped  the  rights  of 
the  country  could  be  maintained  without  war.  ''But,  if 
not,  let  it  come!  The  old  patriots  are  gone  or  going, 
but  new  ones  enough  are  taking  their  places.  Let  our 
rights  be  defended,  no  matter  what  the  cost!" 

There  is  no  authentic  record  of  any  further  expression 
from  him  on  any  public  topic.  Ala j or  Lewis  came  to 
his  bedside — or  rather  to  his  chairside — about  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  June  8th.  To  him  he  feebly 
dictated  farewell  messages  for  Francis  P.  Blair,  Sam 
Houston,  Thomas  H.  Benton,  William  Allen  and  Mrs. 
Polk.  He  tried  to  mention  two  or  three  more,  but  his 
articulation  failed.  After  a  few  moments  his  frame 
shook,  his  eyes  opened,  and  he  saw  some  of  his  faithful 
old  slaves  standing  around  his  feet  as  he  sat  propped 
up  in  the  chair.  To  them  he  found  voice  to  say :  ''Be 
good.     Don't  cry.     We  shall  meet " 

Then,  without  finishing  the  sentence,  he  closed  his 
eyes  and  passed  away. 

In  matters  of  personal  habit,  the  innumerable  little 
things  that  make  up  the  daily  life  of  every  man,  great 
or  humble,  Andrew  Jackson  was  always  the  frank,  cor- 
dial, simple-mannered  and  open-hearted  pioneer.     With 


CHARACTER    AND    PERSONALITY      393 

him  as  its  master,  the  "latch-string"  of  the  White  House 
was  ever  "out,"  as  completely  and  as  hospitably  as  had 
been  that  of  the  lowly  log-cabin  where  he  was  born. 
In  that  respect  the  dizziest  pinnacle  of  power  he  ever 
reached  made  no  impress  upon  his  imagination;  never 
altered  his  bearing  or  his  flavor  of  manliness. 

Once  when  he  was  President  a  highly  accomplished 
Baltimore  lady — no  less  a  personage  than  the  wife  of 
Jerome  Bonaparte — said  to  him :  "General,  there  must 
be  a  sensation  of  exalted  pride  in  feeling  that  you  hold 
the  place  once  held  by  Washington." 

With  his  courtliest  bow  and  most  winning  smile,  he 
replied :  "Yes,  madam ;  it  is  a  sensation  not  unlike  that 
which  a  gentleman  must  feel  when  he  is  honored  by  the 
society  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte's  sister-in-law !" 

From  the  lips  of  some  men  this  might  have  been  no 
better  than  the  compliment  of  a  courtier;  for,  whatever 
he  may  have  been  with  men,  with  women  General  Jack- 
son was  a  veritable  Sir  Launcelot.  With  incidents  of 
this  trait  a  long  chapter  might  be  filled.  On  another 
occasion,  Miss  Vaughan,  the  handsome  and  accomplished 
niece  of  the  British  minister,  said  to  him :  "Mr.  Presi- 
dent, you  and  General  Washington  enjoy  a  unique  fame. 
No  one  else  has  ever  defeated  my  countrymen." 

"That,  my  dear  lady,  is  because  we  were  descended 
from  your  countrywomen!"  he  retorted,  quick  as  a  flash 
and  suave  as  a  knight  of  the  Round  Table. 

Almost  the  only  Caucasian  servitor  about  the  White 
House  in  Jackson's  time  was  an  Irish  stableman  named 
Malloy.  He  was  an  old  soldier  of  the  regular  army  and 
had  served  under  Jackson  in  Ogden's  troop  of  the  old 
First  Dragoons;  had  been  of  the  head-quarters  escort  at 


394     HISTORY   OF   ANDREW   JACKSON 

New  Orleans  and  in  the  last  Florida  campaign.  The 
place  he  held  was  given  to  him  by  Monroe  at  Jackson's 
request.  Malloy's  wife  was  a  jolly  Irishwoman,  much 
younger  than  her  veteran  husband,  and  employed  in 
the  White  House.  The  General  was  fond  of  provoking 
her  wit.     One  day  he  said  to  her  in  a  bantering  way : 

"No  one  w^ould  take  me  for  an  Irishman,  would  he, 
Ellen?" 

'Tndade  they  would,  sur,  if  they  heard  you  talk  to 
the  grand  ladies.  That  taste  of  the  blarney  you  have, 
sur,  would  bethray  you  in  an  Injin's  skin,  sur!" 

He  never  met  a  person  he  knew  by  sight  or  by  name, 
high  or  humble,  white  or  black,  without  ''passing  the 
time  o'  day."  And  his  greeting  to  one  was  as  courtly 
as  to  the  other. 

''Among  men,"  said  Governor  Allen,  "his  acquaint- 
ances or  friends  were  divided  into  four  groups:  First, 
and  most  numerous,  those  w^hom  he  invariably  addressed 
ceremoniously  as  'Mr.  So-and-so'  or  by  any  military  or 
judicial  title  they  might  have.  Second,  those  w^hom  he 
addressed  by  their  surnames,  without  prefix.  Third, 
those  whom  he  called  by  their  first  names  spelled  out 
in  full.  And,  fourth — the  rarest  eminence  of  all — those 
whom  he  called  by  first  names  abbreviated.  The  first 
and  fourth  classes  were  invariable;  the  second  and  third 
interchangeable.  For  example,  I  considered  myself 
nearer  to  him  than  Benton  was  because  he  always  called 
me  'William'  and  always  held  the  great  Missourian  at 
half  arm's  length  as  'Benton.'  The  editor  of  the  Globe 
was  always  'Blair'  to  his  face,  or  'Frank  Blair'  in  the 
third  person.  But  when  it  came  to  'Van,'  or  even 
*Matty,'    for   Van   Buren,   'Jack'    for   Major   Donelson, 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   395 

'Billy'  for  Major  Lewis,  frequently  *Ike'  for  Senator 
Isaac  Hill,  short,  simple  'Bill'  for  Generals  Carroll  and 
William  O.  Butler,  7ack'  or  'Old  Jack'  for  Generals 
John  Coffee  and  John  Adair — notwithstanding  that  Adair 
was  not  very  good  to  him  in  later  years — when,  as  I 
say,  you  heard  these  fine  distinctions,  you  always  knew 
where  his  heart  was. 

''He  had  a  faculty  of  remembering  the  faces  and  re- 
calling the  names  of  his  old  soldiers  that  was  perfectly 
marvellous.  This  applied  to  volunteers  and  regulars 
alike.  I  recall  one  incident  in  Cincinnati.  He  had  just 
landed  from  the  boat  on  his  way  home  in  1832  when 
a  rather  rough-looking  fellow  tried  to  elbow  his  way 
through  the  ranks  of  the  reception  committee.  He  was 
warned  to  stand  aside.  But  the  General  had  observed 
him.  'Hello,  Ned!'  he  exclaimed,  advancing  and  hold- 
ing out  his  hand.  'How  are  you,  General,'  said  'Ned.' 
Then,  turning  to  the  committee,  the  General  explained : 
'One  of  my  old  boys  in  the  Fourth  Infantry,  gentlemen. 
Grand  rascal  in  those  days,  but  a  good  soldier.  I  had 
to  release  him  from  the  guard-house  once  or  twice,  where 
he  had  found  his  way  for  fighting  or  stealing  chickens 
or  taking  forty  drops  too  often — soldierly  offences,  gen- 
tlemen, soldierly  offences!'  'How  long  since  you  have 
seen  him.  General?'  asked  one  of  the  committee.  'Why,' 
he  answered,  as  if  it  was  the  merest  matter  of  course, 
'he  was  on  guard  at  the  governor's  house  in  Pensacola 
the  day  I  left  there  twelve  years  ago.  This  is  the  first 
time  I  have  seen  him  since.' 

"One  day  an  old  sailor  came  to  the  White  House 
during  his  last  term.  Of  course,  he  was  admitted.  The 
General   looked   at   him    intently    for   a   whole   minute. 


396      HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

'I've  seen  you  before!  You  were  at  New  Orleans?' 
he  said. 

"'Yes,  sir;  one  of  the  Carohna's  crew,  sir.' 

"  'Ah,  now  I  remember !  You  landed  with  Norris  and 
fought  in  the  twenty- four-pounder  battery  —  Battery 
Number  Two!' 

"'Yes,  sir;  I  was  seaman-gunner  there.' 

"  'What  are  you  doing  now  ?' 

"  'Odd  jobs  at  rigging,  sir,  over  in  Baltimore.  I'm 
getting  a  little  'long  in  years.  General,  and  the  sea  is 
too  hard  for  me  now.'  The  General  moistened  his  lips 
with  his  tongue,  as  was  his  habit  when  contriving  some- 
thing. 

"  'Like  to  get  into  the  navy-yard,  eh  ?' 

"  'Yes,  sir;  if  you  please,  sir.' 

"Then,  turning  to  young  Rives :  'Here,  Mr.  Rives, 
take  this  old  fellow  over  to  Mr.  Dickerson  [Secretary  of 
the  Navy]  and  have  him  fixed  in  a  good  navy-yard 
place.     Tell  him  I  mean  it!' 

"The  old  salt  bowed  himself  out  rejoicing.  To  the 
half-dozen  or  so  Representatives  or  Senators  in  the  room 
the  General  remarked :  'Old  sailors  of  the  Carolina's  crew 
are  not  so  plenty  but  what  a  feller  can  do  one  of  them 
a  good  turn  when  he  happens  along.'  " 

Some  idea  of  the  rancor  of  party  strife  in  Jackson's 
time  may  be  apprehended  from  the  incident  of  "sawing 
off  the  figure-head"  of  the  old  Constitution,  rebuilt  at 
Boston  in  i833-'34.  This  anecdote  was  related  to  the 
author  many  years  ago  by  the  veteran  and  famous  ship- 
builder, Charles  H.  Cramp:  In  1833,  while  the  Constitu- 
tion was  rebuilding  at  the  Boston  navy-yard,  the  com- 
mandant there  was  Captain  Jesse  D.  Elliott,  who,  as  a 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   397 

lieutenant,  served  with  such  conspicuous  gallantry  under 
Perry  on  Lake  Erie.  Captain  Elliott  was  an  ardent 
admirer  of  General  Jackson,  and  when  the  President 
visited  Boston  in  1833  conceived  the  idea  of  using  his 
bust  in  wood-carving  as  a  new  figure-head  for  the 
famous  old  frigate.  The  bust  was  designed  by  Con- 
structor Samuel  Humphreys,  son  of  Joshua  Humphreys, 
who  designed  the  ship  herself  in  1794.  In  the  summer 
of  1834  the  rebuilt  Constitution  was  getting  ready  for 
a  cruise,  and  lay  in  the  basin  of  the  Boston  navy-yard. 

An  East  India  captain  in  the  service  of  Messrs.  Will- 
iam and   Henry  Lincoln,   great  shipping  merchants   of 
that  time,  named  Samuel  W.  Dewey,  was  a  strong  anti- 
Jackson  man.     Returning  from  a  long  voyage  just  be- 
fore the  Constitution  was  ready  to  sail.  Captain  Dewey 
learned  of  what  he  called  ''the  desecration"  of  the  ship 
and  declared  that  she  should  not  sail  with  the  head  of 
any  living  landsman  at  the  fore— and  least  of  all  that 
of  General  Jackson,  who  from  his  point  of  view  had  so 
often    violated   that   muniment   of   our    liberties    whose 
name  the  frigate  bore.     Captain  Dewey  was  known  to 
all  his  friends  as  a  man  of  reckless  daring  and  also  as 
a  keen  practical  joker.     But  when,  in  the  privacy  of  a 
select  circle,  he  announced  his  intention  of  sawing  off 
the   obnoxious   head,   none   believed   he   would   actually 
attempt  such  a  foolhardy  feat.     The  vessel  was  partly 
manned,    and    the    usual    deck-guard    was    maintained. 
However,  taking  advantage  of  a  dark,  rainy  night,  he 
obtained  a  small  boat,  rowed  out  under  the  bow  of  the 
ship,  climbed  up  by  means  of  the  bobstay  and  "martin- 
gale" to  the  cutwater  and  with  a  well-greased  hand-saw 
soon  severed  the  head.     He  then  took  the  trophy  ashore 


398     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

and  exhibited  it  privately  to  his  friends — including  his 
employers.  The  navy-yard  officials  were,  of  course, 
greatly  exercised,  but  could  not  discover  the  culprit. 

When  President  Jackson  was  informed  of  it,  he 
seemed  more  inclined  to  censure  the  commandant  who 
had  made  such  use  of  his  bust  without  authority  than 
the  bold  practical  joker  who  had  subjected  him  to  vicari- 
ous decapitation.  Concerning  the  latter,  he  said — think- 
ing probably  he  was  someone  connected  with  the  navy : 

"Of  course,  he  is  a  grand  rascal,  whoever  he  may  be. 
But  I'll  bet  he  is  a  fellow  that  will  fight  if  you  get  him 
started  right.  Such  daring  as  that,  actuated  by  proper 
motive,  would  nerve  a  man  to  go  out  in  a  boat  and  put 
a  Bushnell  torpedo  under  the  bow  of  an  enemy's  ship 
on  our  coast  in  time  of  war!  Should  he  be  found  out, 
I  don't  know^  whether  I  would  break  him  or  promote 
him.  It  would  depend  on  tlie  'cut  of  his  jib,'  as  sailors 
say." 

Subsequently  it  was  proposed  to  place  the  General's 
bust  on  the  figure-head  of  the  74-gun  ship  North  Caro- 
lina, but  he  peremptorily  vetoed  the  suggestion.  A  year 
or  so  later  Captain  Dewey,  to  relieve  from  suspicion  an 
officer  or  two  of  the  sloop-of-war  Cyane  who  had  been 
accused  of  sawing  off  the  head,  openly  avowed  the  act, 
and  sent  his  trophy  to  Washington,  where  it  was  shown 
to  the  General,  who  merely  repeated  what  he  had  already 
said  about  the  affair.  Of  course,  Captain  Dewey  was 
liable  to  prosecution  for  destroying  public  property,  but 
Jackson  ordered  that  the  matter  be  ignored.  He  re- 
ceived the  captain  himself  pleasantly,  and  persisted  in 
his  original  view  that  it  was  a  daring  bit  of  bravado, 
the  success  of  which  was  admirable,  irrespective  of  the 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   J99 

motive.  Besides,  he  said,  if  he  had  known  that  a  bust 
of  himself  was  used  in  that  manner,  he  would  have  or- 
dered it  removed. 

Instead  of  reproving  Captain  Dewey  when  the  latter 
avowed  his  act,  General  Jackson  thanked  him,  saying 
that  Captain  Elliott  had  suspected  certain  naval  officers, 
and  he  was  glad  to  have  such  suspicion  removed.  He 
added  that  ''civilians  had  a  right  to  be  as  partisan  as 
they  pleased,  but  naval  officers  should  be  above  party." 

It  happened  that,  while  Jackson  was  President,  com- 
paratively few  applications  for  executive  clemency  came 
before  him.  In  the  few  cases  that  did  reach  him  his 
habit  was  to  refer  them  to  the  judge  in  whose  court 
the  trial  occurred.  'T  was  a  judge  once,  myself,"  he 
would  say,  "and  if  any  man  knows  of  mitigating  circum- 
stances, it  is  he.  I  have  often  sentenced  a  man  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  verdict  of  a  jury  whom  I  would  have 
pardoned  in  the  next  dozen  words  if  I  had  possessed 
the  power." 

In  1834  he  remitted  the  fine  of  $500  imposed  upon 
Sam  Houston  two  years  before  by  the  criminal  court 
of  the  District  of  Columbia  for  thrashing  Representative 
Stansberry,  of  Ohio.  Commenting  on  the  affair,  he  said 
that  Sam's  only  fault  that  he  could  see  was  ''hitting  him 
a  couple  of  times  too  many.  But,"  he  added — doubtless 
in  deference  to  some  memories  of  his  own — "when  a 
fellow  is  smarting  under  calumny  such  as  the  Whigs 
heaped  upon  poor  old  Sam,  he  seems  to  lose  the  faculty 
of  counting  blow^s." 

His  behavior  when  assaulted  by  Lieutenant  Randolph, 
and  also  when  a  lunatic  named  Lawrence  snapped  two 
pistols  at  him  in  the  Capitol,  is  too  well  known  for  de- 


400     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

scription  at  this  late  day.  Mr.  Parton  says  that  the 
General  suspected  his  old  friend  George  Poindexter  of 
having  instigated  this  attempt.  In  our  limited  research 
we  have  not  found  anything  to  that  effect  from  Jackson. 
Mr.  Parton  does  not  offer  evidence,  except  some  random 
speculations  of  Harriet  Martineau.  Besides,  General 
Jackson  knew  George  Poindexter,  of  Mississippi,  too 
well  to  suspect  him  of  ^'instigating"  such  an  act.  He 
knew  very  well  that  if  Senator  Poindexter  wanted  a 
man  killed,  he  would  do  it  himself,  and  give  the  man 
an  equal  chance  for  his  life  at  that.  There  is  a  limit  to 
the  scope  of  surmise  in  such  cases.  However,  Air.  Par- 
ton,  Miss  Martineau  and  Lawrence  himself  were  all 
English.  The  surmise  that  Jackson  suspected  George 
Poindexter  of  "instigating  assassination"  carries  with 
it  the  inference  that  he  may  have  been  capable  of  idiocy 
at  times.  Americans  said  a  good  many  malicious  things 
about  him.  Fortunately,  this  Parton-Martineau  surmise 
was  reserved  for  an  Englishman  and  an  Englishwoman. 

Jackson  did,  however,  suspect  that  Randolph,  if  not 
directly  ''instigated,"  had  been  unduly  wrought  upon  by 
Calhoun,  who  was  his  friend  and  who  had  tried  to  get 
him  reinstated  in  the  navy — from  which  he  had  been 
dismissed. 

In  buried  treasures  of  old  manuscript  correspondence 
and  reminiscences  of  those  who  knew  Jackson  best  linger 
many  traces  of  his  American  bonhomie  and  his  Irish  wit. 

One  day,  about  the  time  for  Congress  to  assemble  in 
December,  1833,  Ralph  Ingersoll,  of  Connecticut,  who 
had  been  one  of  the  few  straight-out  Jackson  Democrats 
in  the  New  England  delegation,  but  retired  in  1833, 
called  upon  the  President.     In  the  course  of  conversation 


CHARACTER    AND    PERSONALITY      401 

he  remarked  that  he  stayed  over  a  few  days  on  his  way 
to  visit  friends  in  Philadelphia.  Jackson  asked  him  what 
news  he  heard  while  there.     He  replied : 

''Of  course,  General,  you  want  me  to  tell  you  the 
truth." 

''Did  you  ever  tell  me  anything  else?  If  so,  congratu- 
late yourself  that  I  never  caught  you  at  it!" 

"Well,  General,  I  must  tell  you  that  you  are  not  very 
popular  just  now  in  Philadelphia — in  fact,  quite  unpopu- 
lar." 

"Oh,  that's  no  news.  I  am  wxll  aware  that  I  enjoy 
an  extreme  unpopularity  with  an  influential  class  of  per- 
sons in  that  town.  They  consider  me  hopelessly  honest. 
They  charge  me,  as  I  understand,  with  an  immoral  de- 
votion to  the  cause  and  interests  of  the  common  people 
only  to  be  matched  by  my  flagrant  opposition  to  the 
Bank  barons  who  get  rich  at  the  people's  expense.  Oh, 
yes ;  I  know  all  that.  It  is  encouraging,  but  it  isn't  news. 
Anything  else?" 

"Well,  sir,  the  Quakers  do  not  approve  your  policy 
of  removing  the  Indians  to  the  West." 

"Don't  they?  Well,  that  isn't  news,  either.  Let  me 
tell  you  a  little  story:  In  March,  1832,  I  was  visited  by 
a  delegation  of  Philadelphia  Quakers  on  that  subject. 
They  were  introduced  by  Buchanan,  who  immediately 
made  his  escape  and  went  as  far  as  Russia  to  get  out 
of  the  way!  Well,  I  didn't  need  any  introduction  to 
the  Quakers.  I  knew  them  of  old.  Years  ago  I  got 
acquainted  with  one  by  the  name  of  Allison.  That  ac- 
quaintance cost  me  money.  It  would  have  cost  me  all 
I  had  and  more  too  but  for  a  lucky  difference  in  juris- 
diction between  State  and  Federal  courts.  Allison  failed 
Vol.  II.— 26 


402     HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

in  business  to  help  himself,  and  left  those  doing  business 
with  him  to  help  themselves — if  they  could.  Luckily 
I  could  and  did.  But  that  isn't  the  point,  except  to  show 
that  I  didn't  need  Buchanan's  introduction  to  acquaint 
me  with  Philadelphia  Quakers.  The  delegation  was  part 
men  and  part  women.  The  men  wore  broad-brim  hats 
and  the  women  narrow-brim  bonnets.  The  men  wouldn't 
take  off  their  hats  in  the  house.  But  I  overlooked  that 
— the  hats,  I  mean.  Of  course,  if  men  ain't  polite  enough 
to  take  off  their  hats  when  they  come  into  your  house, 
you  have  to  overlook  them. 

"Well,  I  asked  them  what  I  could  do  for  them.  They 
said  they  came  to  protest  against  removing  the  Indians. 
I  asked,  What  for?  They  said  it  was  inhuman.  I  asked 
them  why?  They  said  because  it  was  wrong  to  drive 
the  Indians  away  from  their  ancestral  homes  and  ancient 
hunting-grounds.  I  asked  them  if  Philadelphia  was  the 
ancestral  home  and  ancient  hunting-ground  of  the  Qua- 
kers. They  said.  Not  exactly,  but  it  was  a  different  case. 
I  asked  if  they  were  born  in  Philadelphia.  They  said 
they  were.  I  asked  about  their  parents.  They  said  their 
parents  were  born  there.  Then  about  their  grandparents. 
Yes,  they  said,  most  of  them  were  born  there  too.  Then 
I  asked  about  their  great-grandparents.  At  this,  they 
looked  at  one  another!  Finally  one  or  two  said.  No; 
their  great-grandparents  were  mostly  born  in  the  old 
country — England.  So,  I  said,  they  left  their  ancestral 
homes  and  ancient  hunting-grounds  and  came  to  the 
West  in  search  of  new  homes.  Well,  yes,  they  did;  but 
it  was  a  different  case.  Then  I  asked  if  their  great- 
grandparents,  when  they  came  to  Philadelphia,  found 
any  Indians  there.     They  said.  Yes,  they  did ;  but  it  was 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   403 

a  different  case.    What  became  of  those  Indians  ?  I  asked. 

Oh,  they  said,  those  Indians  moved  away;  but  it  was  a 

different  case.     Why  did  they  move  away?  I  insisted. 

Because  onr  forefathers  bought  their  lands,  they  said; 

but  it  was  a  different  case.     Then  I  asked,  'What  did 

your  forefathers  pay  the  Indians  for  their  lands  ?'    They 

said  that  was  a  different  case.     But  they  didn't  tell  me 

what  they  paid!     Then  I  asked,  'Did  your  forefathers 

suffer  temporally  or  spiritually  by  leaving  their  ancestral 

homes    and    ancient    hunting-grounds    in    England    and 

coming  to  new  ones  in  the  West?'     They  couldn't  say 

that  they  did. 

"Well,  some  more  questions  were  asked  and  answered 
in  about  the  same  fashion.  But  whenever  they  couldn't 
find  any  other  answer,  it  was  always  a  different  case. 
Finally  I  asked,  'Would  you,  if  you  could,  go  back  right 
now  to  the  ancestral  homes  and  ancient  hunting-grounds 
of  your  great-great-grandparents  in  England?'  They 
said  that  was  a  different  case. 

'Then  I  said :  T  think  you  folks  have  taken  up  quite 
enough  of  my  time  to  no  purpose.     There  are  quite  a 
number  of  people  besides  you  in  this  country  whose  public 
business  needs  my  attention.     But  before  you  go,  I  want 
to  say  that  all  I  can  make  out  of  the  visit  you  have 
done  me  the  honor  to  pay  me  this  morning  is  that  you 
wish  to  meddle  with  something  that  you  know  nothing 
about  and  make  pretensions  to  motives  which,  by  your 
own  confession,   freely  made,   your  ancestors  not  only 
did  not  act  upon,  but  which  they  denied  by  every  act 
they  did,  either  as  to  themselves  or  as  to  the  Indians. 
And,  furthermore,  while  I  concede  to  everyone  the  con- 
stitutional right  to  be  as  big  a  hypocrite  as  he  or  she 


404     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON 

may  please,  I  deny  your  right  to  take  up  any  more  of 
my  time  as  President,  chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  people 
of  this  country  to  look  after  the  proper  business  of  all 
the  people.' 

"Now,  Mr.  Ingersoll,  what  do  you  think?  Those 
Quakers  went  home  to  Philadelphia  and  told  everyone 
they  could  get  to  listen  to  them  that  General  Jackson 
had  browbeat  and  insulted  them.  Now  do  you  wonder 
that,  as  I  said,  I  'enjoy  unpopularity'  in  a  town  con- 
trolled and  wellnigh  owned  by  such  a  kind  of  folks?" 

When  General  Jackson,  as  we  have  remarked,  objected 
in  1845  to  Polk's  selection  of  James  Buchanan  for  Sec- 
retary of  State  in  his  Cabinet,  Polk  pleaded :  *'But,  Gen- 
eral, you  yourself  appointed  him  minister  to  Russia  in 
your  first  term." 

"Yes,  I  did,"  retorted  the  old  commander  quickly. 
*Tt  was  as  far  as  I  could  send  him  out  of  my  sight,  and 
where  he  could  do  the  least  harm!  I  would  have  sent 
him  to  the  North  Pole  if  we  had  kept  a  minister  there!" 

Yet  some  people  maintain  that  there  was  no  humor 
in  Jackson!     It  may  have  been  grim,  but  it  was  there. 

One  or  two  more  genre  anecdotes,  and  we  close :  Early 
in  1844,  Silas  Wright,  then  Senator  from  New  York, 
and  as  stanch  a  supporter  of  Jackson  as  he  ever  had 
in  a  Northern  State,  wrote  to  Isaac  Hill,  then  in  Boston, 
telling  him  it  was  commonly  believed  in  New  York  that 
Jackson  was  not  strenuous  in  his  support  of  Van  Buren 
for  a  third  nomination  as  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
the  presidency  and  beseeching  him  (Hill)  to  "set  the 
Old  Man  right."  Isaac  copied  as  much  of  Wright's 
letter  as  he  thought  Jackson  would  relish  and  sent  it  to 
him,  with  a  few  rather  noncommittal  observations  of 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   405 

his  own.  Among  Hill's  comments  was  this :  *T  judge 
that  the  New  Yorkers  don't  care  so  much  about  getting 
a  President  as  they  do  about  forcing  a  candidate.  I 
shall  not  have  the  temerity  to  attempt  influencing  your 
opinion,  but  it  strikes  me  that,  if  General  Pakenham  had 
asked  you  where  or  on  what  part  of  your  line  you  wanted 
him  to  attack  you  at  New  Orleans,  your  answer  would 
have  been  that  it  didn't  make  any  difference,  because  you 
proposed  to  whip  him  all  along  the  line!  Now,  I  admit 
this  is  a  little  obscure,  but  a  man  of  your  wit  can  ferret 
out  what  I  mean." 

To  this  General  Jackson  replied:  *T  can  understand 
what  you  mean,  but  not  exactly  why  you  mean  it.  As 
to  the  part  of  Wright's  letter  you  send  me,  I  can  under- 
stand why  he  should  mean  it,  but  not  exactly  what  he 
means!  If  you  mean  that  I  should  come  out  and  insist 
on  Van  Buren  again,  or  if  Wright  means  that  it  would 
be  wrong  for  me  to  let  anything  else  happen,  all  I  can 
say  is  that  every  indication  points  to  a  fine  cotton  crop 
down  here  this  year  and  that  I  expect  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  campaign  as  soon  as  I  hear  from  the  con- 
vention." 

Among  the  General's  peculiarities  was  an  excessive 
dislike  of  fads  and  idiosyncrasies  of  manner  or  speech. 
One  day  a  Virginian  of  social  and  political  prominence 
in  his  locality — a  relative  of  Mrs.  Benton — called  upon 
him  at  the  White  House.  This  gentleman  had  the  dis- 
agreeable oral  habit  of  interspersing  his  conversation 
liberally  with  "You  understand?"  or  "Understand  me?" 
at  the  end  of  almost  every  sentence.  This  annoyed  the 
President,  who  finally  interrupted  him  to  say:  "Judge, 
I    don't   know    whether   your   constant    inquiry   as   to 


4o6     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

whether  I  ^mderstand'  you  impHes  doubt  of  my  hearing 
or  of  my  sense.  But  in  either  case,  take  it  for  granted 
that  I  do  'understand/  and  then  go  ahead  with  your 
story!'' 

The  Virginian  averred  that  it  was  purely  an  oral  habit 
and  that  he  was  unconscious  of  using  the  words  when 
he  did  so. 

*'0f  course  I  know  that,"  said  Jackson,  ''but  my  old 
friend  Overton,  who — as  you  know — used  to  be  my  trav- 
elling companion  and  room-mate  on  the  circuit  in  Ten- 
nessee, snored  dreadfully.  Naturally,  he  was  uncon- 
scious of  it.  And  I  believe  I  had  to  wake  him  up  more 
than  a  hundred  times  to  tell  him  of  it  before  I  could 
break  him.     But  I  finally  broke  him  of  snoring." 

"Well,  General,  you  have  already  broken  me  of  the 
disagreeable  oral  habit.  I  shall  never  interrupt  my  own 
conversation  in  that  manner  again." 

"I'm  glad  to  hear  that,  because  I  intend  to  appoint 
you  United  States  judge  for  your  district,  and  it  would 
be  quite  unpleasant  for  a  judge  to  follow  that  habit  in 
delivering  opinions  or  charging  juries!"  Judge  Pow- 
hatan Ellis  never  again  used  the  words  "Do  you  under- 
stand?" or  "Understand  me?"  to  round  up  his  sentences. 

Of  Andrew  Jackson's  tastes  or  habits  little  need  be 
said.  In  his  younger  days  he  drank  more  than  any  young 
man  trying  to  make  his  fortune  can  afford  to  drink. 
As  he  grew  older  and  acquired  more  sense,  he  became 
more  temperate.  Still  it  must  be  said  that,  to  his  latest 
days,  he  was  anything  but  a  teetotaller,  and  that  as 
long  as  he  lived  neither  the  Hermitage  nor  the  White 
House  was  without  its  creature  comforts.     Though  by 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   407 

no  means  a  gourmet,  he  was  always  fond  of  a  good 
dinner,  and  there  was  always  one  on  his  table  for  him- 
self or  family  or  any  friend  or  friends  who  might  hap- 
pen to  come  his  way  at  meal-time.  He  lived  in  days 
when  horseflesh  was  the  principal  motive  power  of  travel 
and  traffic,  or  the  chief  adjunct  of  manhood  in  war. 
Therefore,  he  had  a  passion  for  fine  horses,  and  for 
more  than  half  of  his  life  was  the  most  assiduous  and 
successful  horse-breeder  in  his  part  of  the  country,  if 
not  in  any  part.  Being  a  pioneer,  he  was  necessarily — 
in  the  first  half  of  his  life  at  least — a  hunter,  and  he  had 
few  equals  as  a  rifleman  in  a  region  where  every  man 
had  to  be  one.  Even  as  late  as  the  time  when  he  had 
left  the  White  House  and  was  over  seventy  years  old, 
and  when  the  "large  game"  was  gone  from  his  neighbor- 
hood, he  could  still  "bark  a  squirrel"  or  behead  a  wild 
turkey  with  his  old  flint-lock  rifle  almost  as  surely  as 
when  he  first  crossed  the  mountains  that  separated  North 
Carolina  from  Tennessee. 

As  a  slave-holder,  or  "master,"  his  kindness,  gentle- 
ness and  indulgence  were  proverbial.  At  any  time  during 
the  last  forty  or  forty-five  years  of  his  life  the  colored 
people  of  the  region  where  he  lived  considered  being 
sold  or  traded  into  the  possession  of  "Mass'  Andrew" 
the  next  best  thing  to  freedom — if  not  better.  But  he 
was  absent  much  of  his  time  and  the  plantation  was 
managed  mainly  by  Mrs.  Jackson,  while  she  lived,  or 
by  the  overseer  after  her  death.  Both  of  them  were 
wont  to  complain  that,  whenever  he  was  around  home 
for  any  length  of  time,  he  spoiled  the  slaves  so  that 
"it  took  quite  a  while  to  get  them  in  good  working 
order  after  he  went  away."     He  habitually  trusted  his 


4o8      HISTORY    OF   ANDREW    JACKSON 

slaves  with  important  business  affairs,  frequently  involv- 
ing travel  as  far  from  home  as  New  Orleans  or  to  points 
in  the  North  where  the  soil  was  free. 

If  any  white  man  maltreated  or  insulted  one  of  his 
slaves,  he  would  call  him  to  an  account  as  swift  and 
summary  as  he  might  exact  on  his  own  behalf.  The 
groom  of  ''Old  Truxton,"  a  negro  named  Ephraim — 
whom,  by  the  way,  the  General  always  called  "Ephra- 
ham" — complained  one  day  that  a  white  man  named 
Grayson  had  struck  him  w^ith  a  riding-w^hip  at  Lebanon. 
Jackson  forthwith  went  to  Lebanon,  hunted  up  Grayson 
and  beat  him  with  a  heavy  cane  so  severely  that  he  was 
laid  up  for  four  or  five  weeks,  and  then  warned  him  if 
he  ever  touched  "Ephraham"  again — or  any  other  "ser- 
vant" of  his — he  would  shoot  him  at  sight.  "Ephra- 
ham"  was  not  molested  any  more.     This  was  in  1809. 

Jackson  had  a  body-servant  commonly  known  as  "Sam 
Jackson,"  who  attended  him  through  all  his  campaigns 
and  whom  he  armed  with  a  rifle.  "Sam"  not  only  at- 
tended his  master  faithfully,  but  fought  valiantly  in  the 
battles  of  the  Creek  w^ar  and  at  New  Orleans.  In  1816 
the  General  set  him  free.  But  he  never  left  the  old 
plantation,  and  he  died  there  about  1848,  outliving  the 
General  three  years.  By  the  way,  "Sam"  was  one  of  the 
"colored  troops"  previously  referred  to  in  our  account 
of  Jackson's  w^ar  against  Silas  Dinsmore.  Besides  his 
other  accomplishments,  Sam  was  an  expert  flat-boatman. 
For  many  years  he  piloted  the  General's  boats  down- 
river with  produce  of  the  plantation.  On  one  occasion 
a  clerk  in  a  commission-house  in  New  Orleans  refused 
to  transact  business  with  him,  though  he  was  at  that 
time  a  free  man.     When  the  General  heard  of  it,  he 


CHARACTER    AND    PERSONALITY      409 

withdrew  his  business  from  that  house  and  transferred 
it  to  Planchine  and  Company.  Sam  was  fond  of  Hquor, 
and  would  sometimes  get  intoxicated  when  about  home. 
But  it  was  said  of  him  that,  when  intrusted  by  the 
General  with  business,  he  could  not  be  induced  to  drink 
at  all.  Three  races  were  mixed  in  Sam,  his  father  being 
half  white  and  half  Choctaw  and  his  mother  a  full-blood 
negro  woman. 

After  about  1808  or  1809  the  General  never  sold  any 
slaves.  He  gave  several  to  General  Coffee — or  rather 
to  Mrs.  Coffee,  who  was  Mrs.  Jackson's  niece — and  he 
also  sent  some  of  his  negroes  to  work  on  plantations 
belonging  to  his  adopted  son  and  one  or  two  of  the  Don- 
elson  boys.  He  had  no  conscientious  scruples  on  the 
subject,  but  said  simply  that  his  slaves  would  beg  so 
hard  to  stay  with  him  that  he  hadn't  the  heart  to  sell 
them.  The  usual  custom  on  plantations  was  to  herd  the 
slaves  together  in  a  group  of  cabins,  called  "negro  quar- 
ters." But  Jackson  kept  in  that  way  only  those  em- 
ployed about  the  house  or  attending  the  live-stock.  The 
field-hands  lived  in  cabins  scattered  over  the  plantation 
and  they  usually  worked  by  "stints,"  which  were  always 
made  light,  except,  of  course,  in  cotton-picking  time. 

Most  of  these  anecdotes  were  related  to  the  author 
by  a  former  slave  of  General  Jackson,  who,  in  1873, 
'74  and  '75  still  lived  in  Nashville.  He  was  born  on 
the  Hermitage  plantation,  "de  y'ar  de  Gin'ril  kum  home 
fum  Floriddy,"  as  he  used  to  say  (1820).  We  talked 
with  several  of  the  old  Jackson  slaves,  and  they  all  meas- 
ured their  ages  by  important  events  in  his  career.  The 
colored  people  on  the  plantation  attended  religious  ser- 
vices with  the  family  in  the  little  chapel  near  the  man- 


410     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

sion  until,  in  later  years,  they  became  too  numerous  to 
find  room  in  it,  when  other  accommodations  for  worship 
w^ere  provided.  Marks  in  the  old  family  bible  indicate 
several  passages  to  which  the  General  and  Mrs.  Jackson 
were  wont  to  refer  as  scriptural  authority  justifying  the 
institution. 

Not  long  after  Paul  Jones  had  emerged  alive  from  his 
greatest  battle,  he  was  challenged  by  a  Frenchman  to 
single  combat.  The  American  commissioners  in  France 
at  that  time  were  Benjamin  Franklin  and  John  Adams. 
Jones  accepted  the  challenge  and  proposed  pistols  at  ten 
paces.  The  encounter  was  postponed  by  protest  from 
the  Frenchman  that  the  terms  offered  by  Jones  were 
* 'barbarous,"  and  that  under  the  French  code  only  the 
rapier  was  recognized  as  the  "weapon  of  honor."  This 
postponement  enabled  Franklin  and  Adams  to  exert  their 
good  offices  for  the  prevention  of  the  duel,  and  they  were 
successful.  During  the  discussion  on  the  subject  between 
them,  Mr.  Adams  suggested  that  Jones  was  foolish  to 
take  any  notice  of  the  Frenchman's  challenge  and  that 
it  was  not  necessary  for  him  to  fight  a  duel  in  order 
to  prove  that  he  was  a  fighting  man.  To  this  Franklin 
replied  that  Jones  w^as  "more  kinds  of  a  fighting  man" 
than  he  had  ever  heard  of  before  or  elsewhere!  Our 
impression  is  that  if  Dr.  Franklin  had  lived  to  know 
Andrew  Jackson,  he  would  have  felt  impelled  to  admit 
an  exception  to  the  rule  he  formulated  as  to  Paul  Jones. 

Jackson  is  and  forever  must  be  known  to  history  as  a 
"fighting  man,"  primarily  and  par  excellence.  All  other 
phases  of  him  are  incidental  or  adventitious.  But,  if 
we  listen  to  an  explanation  offered  to  the  author  by 
Mrs.  Polk,  we  must  reach  the  conclusion  that  Jackson 


CHARACTER  AND  PERSONALITY   411 

was  not  altogether  to  blame.  "A  favorite  figure  in  all 
history,"  said  this  lady,  "is  the  ^Spartan  mother.'  Such 
was  Aunt  Betty  Jackson,  who  brought  forth  the  General. 
He  used  to  relate  to  his  intimate  friends  that  when  he 
was  not  more  than  five  years  old,  Aunt  Betty  saw  him 
crying  one  day.  *Stop  that,  Andrew,'  she  commanded. 
'Don't  let  me  see  you  cry  again!  Girls  were  made  to 
cry;  not  boys!' 

"  Well,  then,  mother,  what  are  boys  made  for  ?' 

"  To  fight !'  she  told  him. 

*The  General  used  to  say  that,  so  far  as  he  could 
remember,  he  never  cried  again. 

"Some  eight  years  afterward,  while  going  to  school, 
at  or  about  the  age  of  twelve,  he  was  severely  thrashed 
by  an  older  and  stronger  boy;  a  young  man,  in  fact, 
eighteen  or  nineteen  years  old.  James  Crawford,  Aunt 
Betty  Jackson's  brother-in-law  and  Andrew's  uncle,  pro- 
posed to  have  the  young  man  arrested  and  prosecuted 
for  assault  and  battery. 

"  'No,  sir !'  exclaimed  Aunt  Betty.  'No  son  of  mine 
shall  ever  appear  as  complaining  witness  in  a  case  of 
assault  and  battery!  If  he  gets  hold  of  a  fellow  too 
big  for  him,  let  him  wait  till  he  grows  some  and  then 
try  it  again !'  " 

"There  is  no  record,"  added  Mrs.  Polk,  "of  Andrew 
Jackson's  appearance  as  complainant  in  a  case  of  that 
kind.  The  complaint — if  the  other  fellow  lived — was 
always  the  other  way." 

To  the  array  of  facts  which  we  have  endeavored  faith- 
fully to  deploy  it  does  not  seem  that  peroration  could 
add  any  useful  thing.  We  think,  however,  it  will  be  safe 
to  remark  that  no  man  ever  figured  in  our  history  con- 


412     HISTORY    OF    ANDREW   JACKSON 

cerning  whose  character  and  stature  the  mind  of  the 
American  people  is  more  irrevocably  made  up  than  con- 
cerning Andrew  Jackson.  For  the  rest,  it  needs  neither 
a  Clay  nor  a  Calhoun  to  parade  his  faults  nor  a  humble 
Jackson  Democrat — contemporary  or  hereditary — to  enu- 
merate his  virtues.  Both  will  stand,  just  as  he  left  them, 
to  the  end  of  time. 


THE   END 


INDEX 


Adair,  General,  i,  156,  423;  his  com- 
mand placed  in  main  line  of  battle, 
425;  at  battle  of  New  Orleans,  ii,  11, 
13;    correspondence    with    Jackson, 
no;  at  Mrs.  Jackson's  funeral,  202, 
203;  career,  273,  note. 
Adams,  John,  i,  120,  ii,  141,  4io- 
Adams,    John    Quincy,    u,    107,    112; 
sustains    Jackson,    139-41;    leadmg 
American  statesman,  159;  presiden- 
tial candidate,   168,   169,   172,   174; 
elected    President,    175;    nommates 
Clav  Secretary  of  State,   175;  sup- 
posed  bargain   with   Clay,    175-7?; 
lack  of  enthusiasm,   191;  character 
of  his  party,  192;  attack  on,  193,  194; 
held    responsible    by    Jackson    for 
slander  of  Mrs.   Jackson,   196;  de- 
feated by  Jackson  for  Presidency  m 
1828,  199;  supports  the  Bank,  266; 
supports    Jackson,    294;    leader    of 
minority   in   the   House,    324,    326; 
correspondence  with  Jackson,  380. 
Adavre,  Major,  ii,  39. 
Alcorn,  Colonel,  i,  308. 
Alexander,  Mr.,  quoted,  i,  220. 
Allen,  William,  i,  20;    quoted,  20,  21; 
on  Jackson's  first  vote  in  Congress, 
116,      117;      Jackson's     Richmond 
speech,  207,  208;  invasion  of  Louisi- 
ana, ii,  76,  77;  on  Jackson,  170,  note; 
speeches  in  campaign  of  1828,  189, 
note;   career,  189,  note;   at  the  Her- 
mitage,   300,  333;  defeated  for  the 
House,  333,  note;  presidential  candi- 
date, 377-    ,    .        „    ,  u     1 
Allison,  David,  1,  128;  becomes  bank- 
rupt, 146,  150- 
Alzar,  Senor  Fernando,  i,  407?  ">  3? 

note. 
Amand,  Major,  ii,  36. 
Ambrister,    Robert   C,   ii,    113;    cap- 
tured, 127,  128;  sentenced  to  be  shot, 
128;  death,  129. 
Anderson,  Patten, i  ,195;  death,  236. 
Arbuckle,  Colonel,  ii,  56,  124,  note. 
Arbuthnot,  Alexander,  ii,  113;  arrested, 
126;  sentenced  to  be   hanged,  128; 
death,  129. 
Armstrong,   John,   becomes  Secretary 
of  War,  i,  265,  266;  orders  Jackson 
to  disband  his  command,  266;    pays 
Jackson's     drafts,     275;      criticises 
Jackson,   276;   efforts  to  regularize 


military  forces,  277;  favoritism,  278; 
deposed,  346. 
Armstrong,  Lieutenant  Robert,  1,  321, 

Arnaud,  Major,  1,  428. 
Avery,  Isaac  T.,  i,  133,  134. 
Avery,  Colonel  Waighstill,  duel  with 
Jackson,  i,  103,  139,  note,  i55-57- 

Ballard,  Judge,  describes  American 
troops  at  New  Orleans,  ii,  43)  44- 

Ballard,  Morgan,  ii,  18;  quoted,  179. 

Bank  of  North  America,  i,  146,  1 50- 

Baratarian  smugglers,  assist  in  defence 
of  New  Orleans,  i,  412,  419?  ^^te,  de- 
ceive the  British,  ii,  66,  67. 

Barney,  Commodore,  ii,  5. 

Barry,  Colonel,  ii,  251. 

Bathurst,  Eari,  refuses  to  receive 
Colonel  NichoUs,  ii,  111-14- 

Beale,  Captain,  narrow  escape,  i,  393. 

Beale's  New  Orleans  City  Rifles,  1,  376, 
387;  capture  of  half,  392;  at  New 
Orleans,  ii,  30. 

Beasley,  Major,  i,  292. 

Bennett.  James  Gordon,  ii,  188. 

Benton,  Jesse,  duel  with  William  Car- 
roll, 282,  284-86;  implicated  in  his 
brother's  duel  with  Jackson,  289. 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  i,  91;  duel  with 
Jackson,  103,  note,  104,  214;  account 
of  Jackson's  duel  with  Dickinson, 
170-76;  colonel  of  militia,  231; 
makes  Jackson's  acquaintance,  232, 
233;  young  lawyer,  233,  234;  powers 
of  oratory,  235;  a  firm  supporter  and 
friend  of  Jackson,  233,  234,  235; 
ordered  to  Mississippi,  259,  261; 
describes  Tennessee  troops,  261-63; 
persuades  Armstrong  to  pay  Jack- 
son's drafts,  274,  275;  appointed 
lieutenant-colonel,  276;  his  bravery, 
287;  quarrel  with  Jackson,  288;  duel 
with  Colonel  Lucas,  287,  note;  duel 
with  Jackson,  289;  issues  account  of 
the  affair,  290;  reconciliation  with 
Jackson,  2Q0;  in  Creek  war,  295; 
describes  Mrs.  Jackson,  ii,  95;  sup- 
ports Jackson  and  Clay,  160;  recon- 
ciliation with  Jackson,  163-65; 
works  for  Jackson's  election,  197; 
quoted,  243,  246;  opens  anti-Bank 
campaign,  247;  altercation  with 
Clay,  266,  267;  declines  bullet  from 


413 


414 


INDEX 


Jackson,  268;  aspires  to  the  Presi- 
dency, 376,  377;  indorsed  for  Secre- 
tary  of  State  by  Jackson,  382. 
iton,  Mrst>ii,  164. 

Berrieri^Attorney- General,  ii,  250,  251. 

Bibbs,  Governor,  ii,  131. 

Biddle,  Mr.  Nicholas,  ii,  250;  favors 
forcing  issue  of  the  Bank,  256;  fight 
with  Jackson,  314;  beaten  at  his  own 
game,  328. 

BigWarrior,i.  332,337. 

"Billy  Bowlegs,"  ii,  127. 

Bissell,  Captain,  warned  by  Jackson,  i, 
200;  his  reply,  201. 

Blackden,  Colonel  Samuel,  i,  65. 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  quoted,  note,  i,  23, 
24,  25,  no,  ii,  182,  267;  founds  the 
Washington  Globe,  288-90;  friend- 
ship with  Jackson,  290;  services  to 
Jackson  and  Lincoln,  292,  293. 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  Jr.,  ii,  279. 

Blair,  Mr.,  44,  note. 

Blair,  Montgomery,  ii,  269. 

Blennerhasset,  Herman,  ii,  98. 

Blount,  Governor,  i,  82,  87,  112;  ex- 
pelled from  Congress,  121. 

Blount,  William,  elected  Governor  of 
Tennessee,  i,  229,  230;  buys  rifles, 
259;  instructions  to  troops,  260; 
orders  to  General  Cocke,  312;  raises 
troops  for  Jackson,  316,  317,  347. 

Blount  Papers,  quoted,  i,  122,  note,  132, 
138. 

Blue,  Major,  i,  351. 

Boleck,  ii,  126,  127. 

Bonaparte,  Madame  Jerome,  ii,  393. 

Bond,  Bill,  ii,  333,  note. 

Bonnell,  Joseph,  ii,  130,  350,  note. 

Boone,  Nathan,  ii,  198. 

Bowen,  Francis,  ii,  305. 

"Bowlock,"  5ee  Boleck. 

Brackenridge,  Henry  M.,  ii,  148,  149, 

ISO- 
Bradley,  Colonel,  misconduct  at  Talla- 
dega, i,  309. 

Branch,  Mr.  T.  L.,  i,  248,  250;  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy,  ii,  250,  251. 

Branch,  Professor,  i,  36. 

British  designs  in  Louisiana,  i,  358  et 
seq.,  ii,  70  et  seq. 

Brock,  General  Sir  Isaac,  i,  255. 

Brooke,  Lieutenant,  ii,  34. 

Brown,  Dr.,  i,  329,  note. 

Brown,  General  Jacob,  ii,  99,  loi; 
criticised  by  Jackson,  145,  146. 

Brown,  John  Calvin,  ii,  381. 

Brown,  Representative,  ii,  379. 

Buchanan,  James,  ii,  188;  disap- 
proved by  Jackson,  as  Secretary  of 
State,  382. 

Buell,  David,  i,  193,  and  note,  193; 
letters  to  his  father,  279-82,  ii,  51, 
quoted,  341;  visits  Jackson,  ii, 
272;    in   Mexican   War,   350,  note. 


Buell,  Ezra,  i,  279;  reply  to  his  son's 
letter,   281,  7tote. 

Buford,  Colonel  Abe,  i,  43. 

Burr,  Aaron,  opinion  on  suffrage,  i, 
3;  aids  in  admission  of  Tennessee, 
113;  duel  with  Hamilton,  172; 
effect  of  this  duel,  172,  183;  Jack- 
son's estimate  of,  172,  173;  presides 
over  the  Senate,  184;  a  political 
exile  and  financial  bankrupt,  185; 
his  Southwestern  scheme,  185-89, 
190-95;  confides  in  Jackson,  188; 
\'isits  Nashville,  188,  190;  cor- 
respondence with  Jackson,  191,  192; 
fits  out  his  expedition  195;  ar- 
rested by  Jo  Daviess,  197;  starts 
on  his  voyage  down  the  Cumber- 
land, 198;  denounced  by  Jef- 
ferson, 198;  burned  in  eflBgy,  198; 
arrested  in  Alabama,  202;  litiga- 
tion with  Blennerhasset,  ii,  98; 
Jackson's  estimate  of,  389,  390. 

Burroughs,  Mr.  E.  N.,  i,  373;  de- 
scribes battle  of  New  Orleans,  ii, 
19-22. 

Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  Attorney-Gen- 
eral, ii,  317,  359. 

Butler,  Captain,  i,  354. 

Buder,  General  WiUiam  O.,  i,  48,  note; 
at  New  Orleans,  ii,  7  et  seq.;  visits 
Jackson,  272;  at  the  White  House, 
335;  runs  for  Governor  of  Kentucky, 
37 7 J    378;     quoted    throughout    this 

*    work. 

Butler,  Major  T.  L.,  i,  347,  note; 
at  New  Orleans,  422;  ii,  7,  note. 

Calhoun,  John  C,  ii,  115,  116,  138, 
158;  candidate  for  Vice-President, 
188,  189;  incurs  Jackson's  resent- 
ment, ^^lLA-  opinion  on  State- 
rights,  239;  Jackson's  enemy,  240; 
crushed  by  Jackson,  241,  242;  in 
South  Carolina  trouble,  273,  274, 
275;  doctrine  of  nullification,  281; 
learns  of  Jackson's  preparations, 
284;  votes  for  compromise  tariff  biU, 
285;  attack  on  Jackson,  319-21; 
effort  to  create  industrial  panic, 
321;  opposes  Webster's  compro- 
mise, 322;  panic  plans  materialize, 
326,  327;  Jackson's  contempt  for, 
336,     337;    influences     Tyler,    378, 

379- 

Callava,  Governor  Don  Jos6,  ii,  147; 
arrested  by  Jackson,  149,  150. 

Camden,  disaster  at,  i,  44. 

Camp  Defiance,  i,  321,  322. 

Campbell,  George  W.,  i,  148,  152, 
202,  229,  ii,  108;  counsellor-general 
to  Jackson,  183,  186;    career,  187. 

Campbell,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  N.,  accusa- 
tions against  Mrs.  Eaton,  ii,  229, 
230. 


INDEX 


415 


Canning,  George,  instigator  of  the 
"Monroe  Doctrine,"  ii,  167. 

Carolina,  schooner,  i,  387-go;  de- 
stroyed, 412. 

Carroll,  General  William,  i,  109, 
note,  231,  267;  duel  with  Jesse  Ben- 
ton, 282,  284-86;  his  career,  284; 
description  of  Weatherford,  335; 
at  New  Orleans,  411;  character 
of  his  command,  430,  431;  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  ii,  11,  13,  16,  31; 
"Boss"  of  Tennessee,  156,  185; 
on  Jackson's  staff,  183,  186,  197; 
career,  184-86;  notifies  Jackson  of 
his  election,  199,  200;  "punishes" 
H.  L.  White,  253,  262;  visits  Jack- 
son, 272. 

Carroll,  William,  Gallatin's  friend 
and  partner,  i,  283,  284. 

Carter,  Mr.,  i,  107. 

Cass,  General,  ii,  189;  Secretary  of 
War,  251,  269;  presidential  can- 
didate, 377. 

Castlereagh,  Lord,  ii,  134,  139. 

Catlett,  Dr.  Hanson,  acts  as  second 
for  Dickinson,  i,  167,  168,  169,  174. 

Chandler,  Abel,  ii,  309. 

Chase,  Samuel,  i,  184. 

Chelocta,  i,  337. 

Chennby,  Chief,  i,  303. 

Cherokees,  i,  83,  84;  expedition 
against,   88,  89. 

Chesapeake,  outrage  by  Leopard,  i, 
203. 

Chickasaws,  i,  83,  84;  treaty,  ii,  103, 
104. 

Choctaws,  i,  83,  84. 

Choutard,  Mademoiselle,  i,  367. 

Chronicle,  Major,  i,  45. 

Claiborne,  William  C.  C,  i,  131;  Gov- 
ernor of  Louisiana,  149;  warned  by 
Jackson,  196;  learns  of  British  de- 
signs on  Louisiana,  358,  359;  failure 
to  raise  volunteers,  378. 

Clay,  Henry,  ii,  159;  opposed  by  Jack- 
son, 166;  presidential  candidate,  168, 
169,  172,  174,  175;  character,  171; 
nominated  Secretary  of  State  under 
Adams,  175;  opposed  by  Randolph, 
176;  supposed  "bargain"  with 
Adams,  175-77;  i^i  the  campaign  of 
1828,  195,  198;  defeats  Van  Buren's 
nomination,  254;  decides  that  the 
Bank  must  force  the  issue,  257;  nom- 
inated for  President,  258;  altercation 
with  Benton,  266,  267;  defeated  for 
the  Presidency,  280,  281;  attack  on 
Jackson,  319-21;  effort  to  create 
industrial  panic,  321;  opposes  Web- 
ster's compromise,  322;  materializa- 
tion of  panic  plans,  326,  327;  Jack- 
son's hatred  of,  335,  336;  attitude  in 
campaign  of  1836,  348,  349;  attack 
on  Edward  Livingston,  374,  note. 


Clayton,  Thomas  M.,  ii,  285. 
Clinton,  De  Witt,  ii,  158,  159. 
Cochrane,  Sir  Alexander,  i,  399,  412, 

ii,  I-       .   . 

Cocke,  William,  General,  i,  112,  231, 
312. 

Coffee,  General  John,  duel  with  Na- 
thaniel McNairy,  i,  163;  selected  for 
Burr's  expedition,  193;  colonel  of 
militia,  231;  ordered  to  Mississippi, 
258,  259,  261;  part  in  Jackson-Ben- 
ton duel,  289;  in  Creek  war,  295, 
296,  297;  defeats  the  Creeks  at  Tal- 
lushatchee,  302-05;  eulogy  by  Wil- 
liam Carroll,  305;  at  Talladega, 
307,  308;  loses  part  of  his  command, 
315;  recruits  his  force,  317;  wounded 
at  Emuckfau,  320;  at  Enotichopco, 
321;  at  Tohopeka,  326;  joins  Jack- 
son with  new  brigade  at  Mobile,  347, 
356;  letter  to  his  wife,  357;  at  New 
Orleans,  376,  382,  387,  390,  392, 
422,  ii,  9;  battle  of  New  Orleans,  30; 
supports  Jackson,  197;  visits  Jack- 

Coldek,lLyor^,T37rCCg^^j;^^t/^/t^ 

Colman,  Mr.,  ii,  166. 

Congress,  declares  war  against  Great 
Britain,  i,  246;  authorizes  infantry 
regiments,  277;  passes  militia  laws, 

343- 

"Congressional  Caucus,"  ii,  167,  168. 

"Constitution,"  anecdote  of  her  figure- 
head, ii,  396-99. 

Conway,  George,  i,  135. 

Cooke,  Captain  J.  Nelson,  i,  373; 
quoted,  395,  398,  413;  describes  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  ii,  18,  19. 

Corcoran,  William  W.,  ii,  298. 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  i,  44;  censures  Tarle- 
ton,  50;  forced  to  withdraw  from  the 
Carolinas,  51;  surrender,  52. 

Costello,  Captain,  i,  373;  qiioted,  395, 
396,  398,411. 

Cotton-bales,  used  in  fortifications,  1, 
405. 

Cowpens,  battle  of,  i,  49,  50. 

Cramp,  Charles  H.,  ii,  396. 

Crawford,  James,  i,  19,  provides  for 
Mrs.  Jackson,  33. 

Crawford,  Joseph,  i,  19. 

Crawford,  Miss  Betty,  i,  46. 

Crawford,  Robert,  i,  19. 

Crawford,  Thomas,  captured,  i,  51; 
saves  Jackson  from  duel,  63,  64. 

Crawford,  William  H.,  ii,  138,  158; 
hatred  of  Jackson,  140;  presidential 
candidate,  168,  169,  172,  174,  175. 

Creeks,  i,  83,  84;  outbreaks  in  1813, 
292-94;  bravery,  300;  defeated  by 
Colonel  Coffee  at  Tallushatchee, 
302-04;  defeated  by  Jackson  at  Tal- 
ladega, 306-10;  deceived  by  Nicholls, 
311,   322;    defeated   at    Emuckfau, 


4i6 


INDEX 


318-20;    repulsed    at   Enotichopco, 

320,  321,   and   at   Camp   Defiance, 

321,  322;  condition  in  1814,  323,  324; 
annihilated  at  Tohopeka,  327-330; 
terms  of  the  treaty,  337,  ^^8;  results 
of  the  war,  33S,  339. 

Crittenden,  Captain,  ii,  129. 
Cunningham,  Patrick,  anecdote  of,  ii, 

357-59- 
Curriton,  Lieutenant,  i,  52. 

Dale,  Colonel,  at  battle  of  New  Or- 
leans, ii,  22,  23;  death,  23. 

Dale,  Sam,  i,  244,  294,  306,  326,  344; 
visits  Jackson,  ii,  278;  quoted,  278, 
279. 

Dallas,  Acting-Secretary  of  War,  cen- 
sures Jackson,  ii,  90,  91. 

Dallas,  Senator,  offers  memorial  for  re- 
newal of  charter  to  the  United  States 
Bank,  ii,  258,  259. 

Daquin's  Battery,  i,  376,  387. 

Davidson,  George,  ii,  188. 

Davidson,  John,  i,  244. 

Davie,  Colonel  William  R.,  1,41-43,  52. 

Davis,  Colonel,  i,  424;  repulsed  at  New 
Orleans,  ii,  36-38. 

Dearborn,  General,  i,  201. 

de  Char\'ille,  Paul,  i,  79,  80. 

De  Clouet,  Colonel,  i,  416. 

de  la  Roche,  Captain,  i,  391. 

"Democratic"  Party,  note,  i,  113. 

"Democratic  Republicans,"  i,  10. 

de  Peyster,  Major  James,  i,  44.  * 

Dewey,  Samuel  W.,  ii,  397-99. 

Dick,  John,  ii,  89. 

Dickerson,  Mahlon,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  ii,  359. 

Dickinson,  Charles,  duel  with  Jackson, 
i,  i53>  154,  155,  158-82;  letter  con- 
cerning Jackson,  in  the  Impartial 
Review,  164;  replies  to  Jackson's 
challenge,  167;  death,  175,  176; 
funeral,  180. 

Dickson   Captain,  ii,  38. 

Dinsmore,  Samuel,  wronged  by  Jack- 
son, i,  238-41. 

Dockstadter,  Colonel,  ii,  73,  note. 

Dockstadter,  Mr.,  ii,  73. 

Donelson,  Andrew  Jackson,  ii,  207, 
269,  see  Andrew  Jackson,  Jr. 

Donelson,  Captain  John,  Jr.,  i,  402, 
422,  ii,  30. 

Donelson,  Colonel  John,  i,  80;  death, 
94. 

Donelson,  Colonel  Samuel,  i,  220. 

Donelson  Mary,  i,  95,  ii,  157,  200. 

Donelson,  Mrs.  Andrew  Jackson,  ii, 
200,  207,  232;  returns  to  the  White 
House,  249;  accompanies  Jackson 
home,  269. 

Donelson,  Mrs.  John,  i,  94-96. 

Donelson,  Samuel,  i,  95. 

Donelson,  Savern,  ii,  387. 


Duane,  William  J.,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  ii,  311;  disagrees  with 
Jackson,  317;  dismissal,  317. 

Dubourg,  Most  Reverend  Abbe,  i, 
380,  ii,  79. 

Dunlap,  Colonel,  i,  44. 

Dupin,  Colonel,  i,  374;  quoted,  ii,  66, 
note. 

Dyer,  Colonel,  i,  308,  ii,  130. 

Eastin,  Mr.,  i,  180. 

Eaton,  General  John  Henry,  quoted,  i, 
26,  23,  376,  note;  on  Jackson's  staff, 
183,  197;  career,  183,  184;  marries 
Mrs.  Timberlake,  225;  troubles  ia 
Washington,  248-52;  resigns  from 
War  Department,  251;  holds  Ingham 
responsible  for  attack  on  Mrs.  Eaton, 
252;  Governor  of  Florida,  253;  min- 
ister to  Spain,  253. 

Eaton,  Mrs.  J.  H.,  scandal  concerning, 
ii,  225-32;  influence  on  political  his- 
tory, 232;  causes  social  difficulty, 
248;  in  Spain,  253;  last  years  of  her 
life,  253,  note;  anecdote,  303. 

Elliot,  Captain  Jesse  D.,  ii,  396,  397, 

399- 
Ellis,  Judge  Powhatan,  ii,  405,  406. 
Elwood,  Hon.  Mr.,  ii,  72. 
Ely,  Rev.  Dr.  E.  S.,  allegations  against 

Mrs.  Eaton,  ii,  226-30. 
Emigration  ships,  i,  16,  17. 
Emuckfau,  battle  of,  i,  318-20. 
Enotichopco,  battle  of,  320,  321. 
Eppes,  Mr.,  ii,  136,  137. 
Erskine,  Captain,  ii,  61,  62. 
Ervin,  Captain,  i,  198,  285. 
Ervin,  Miss,  i,  159. 
"Etowah  Expedition,"  i,  117. 
Eustis,  Mr.,  succeeded  as  Secretary  of 

War  by  John  Armstrong,  i,  265,  266. 
Eustis's  battery,  i,  344,  346. 
Everett,  Edward,  ii,  303,  326. 

Fanning,  Major,  ii,  129. 

Fargo,  Captain,  i,  81. 

Federalists,  i,  10,  11;  resist  admis- 
sion of  Tennessee,  112,  113;  growth 
of  the  party  in  Tennessee,  228. 

Ferguson, ,  i,  44. 

Fleanjeac,  General,  ii,  12. 

Florida  ceded  to  the  United  States, 
ii,    138. 

Floyd,  General,  i,  318;  repulses 
Creeks  at  Camp  Defiance,  321,  322. 

Forbes,  Malcolm  Mitchell,  i,  374* 
ii,   23,  32. 

Forbes  and  Company,  ii,  149,  150. 

Forsyth,  Senator,  ii,  320,  337,  350; 
advice  to  Jackson  on  the  Oregon 
Boundary  question,  340,  341. 

Fort  Armstrong,  i,  318. 

Fort  Barrancas,  i,  344,  351;  evacu- 
ated, 355;   surrender  of,  ii,  131. 


INDEX 


417 


Fort    Bowyer,    attacked    by    British, 

i,  344;    captured,  ii,  53. 
Fort  Gadsen,  ii,   119. 
Fort    Jackson,    i,    331;     mutiny    at, 

340-44. 
Fort  Mims,  massacre  of,  i,  278,  292. 
Fort  St.  Marks,  surrender  of,  i,  120-21. 
Fort   St.   Michael,   i,   351;    surrender 

of,  355- 
Fort  Strother,  i,  307,  316. 
Fort  Williams,  i,  326. 
Francis,     "Prophet,"     ii,     iii,     113; 

capture  of ,  123-24;  hanged,  125,  126. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  ii,  410. 
French  Spoliation  Claims,  ii,  342-45. 
Fromentin,  Judge,  ii,   150. 
Frost,  Dr.  John,  i,  154,  296,  note. 

Gaines,  General,  ii,  114,  115,  128. 

Galbraith,  Captain  Matthew,  threat- 
ens to  chastise  Jackson,  i,  62-64. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  supports  Jackson, 
i,  119,  122;  friendship  for  Jackson, 
122,  123;  his  career,  283;  partner 
of  WUliam  Carroll,  283,  284. 

Gallatin,  Mrs.  Albert,  i,  123. 

"Galloper"  guns,  i,  50. 

Galvez,  Mr.,  ii,  3,  note. 

Garfon,  ii,   113. 

Gardiner,  Captain  William,  brings 
news  of  British  fleet  at  Negri] 
Bay,  i,  364. 

Garfield,  James  A.,  quoted,  ii,  344. 

Garland,  Captain  Henry,  ii,  78; 
speech  on  British  designs  in  Louis- 
iana,  79-83,  quoted,  85. 

Garland,  Hon.  Augustus  H.,ii,  79,  note. 

Gibbs,  General,  i,  411,  412,  413,  at 
council  of  war  before  New  Or- 
leans, ii,  I,  3;  at  battle  of  New  Or- 
leans, 19-21,  28,  29;  death,  29; 
body  sent  to  England,  81,  note. 

Gibbs,  Sir  Samuel,  quoted,  ii,  81,  note. 

Girod,  Mayor  of  New  Orleans,  i, 
380,  410. 

Gonzalez,    Don,    protest    to   Jackson 
ii,      130,      131;       surrenders     Fort 
Barrancas,  131. 

Goulburn,  Mr.  ii,  75. 

Grant,  General,  i,  276. 

Graves,  Lieutenant,  ii,   23. 

Green,  General  Duff,  anecdote  of 
Jackson's  ancestry,  i,  30,  32;  edi- 
tor of  the  U.  S.  Telegraph,  ii,  288. 

Green,  Tom,  ii,  272. 

Griffin,  General,  i,  276. 

Grundy,  Felix,  i,  236,  237. 

Hall,  Judge  D.  A...  arrested  by  Jack- 
son's order,  ii,  56,  57,  58;  retaliates 
on  Jackson,  89,  90,  91. 

Hall,  William,  Colonel,  i,  231,  262; 
ordered  to  Mississippi,  259,  261;  at 
Talladega,  308. 


Halsey,  F.  W.,  i,  18. 

Hambly  ii,  133;  spy  for  Jackson,  113, 
note,  130,  131. 

Hamilton,  Andrew,  duel  with  Burr,  i, 
172;  effect  of  the  duel,  172,  184. 

Hampton,  Wade,  i,  278. 

Hannegan,  Edward,  ii,  189. 

Harland,  Mr.,  i,  31,  2,2. 

Harris,  Dr.,  extracts  Jackson's  bullet, 
ii,  267. 

Harris,  Senator  Isham  G.,  i,  145,  note, 
quoted,  231. 

Harrison,  General  William  Henry,  ca- 
reer before  181 2,  i,  243-45;  marches 
upon  Proctor  and  Tecumseh,  270, 
271;  wins  batde  of  Thames  and  kills 
Tecumseh,  277;  disliked  by  Arm- 
strong, 278;  faith  of  his  army  in,  282; 
at  New  Orleans,  423-25;  minister  to 
Bogota,  ii,  189;  recalled  by  Jackson, 
219-21;  election  predicted  by  Jack- 
son, 301;  nominated  for  Presidency, 
349;  defeated  by  Van  Buren,  350; 
renominated  for  Presidency,  373; 
elected,  375;  death,  377;  his  fine  for 
thrashing  Representative  Stansberry 
remitted  by  Jackson,  319. 

Hay,  Mrs.,  i,  95.  _ 

Hayne,  Colonel,  i,  377,  note,  in  Florida, 
ii,  118,  119,  120;  transacts  Jackson's 
business,  134;  in  the  Senate,  163;  de- 
bate with  Webster,  238,  300;  opinion 
on  State-rights,  239;  Governor  of 
South  Carolina,  282. 

Hays,  Miss,  ii,  207. 

Hays,  Stokely,  i,  289. 

Henderson,  Captain,  i,  411. 

Heywood's  History  of  Tennessee, 
quoted,  i,  88. 

"Hickory  Ground,  The,"  i,  330. 

Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States, 
note,  i,  123. 

Hill,  Abram,  ii,  308. 

Hill,  Captain  R.  N.,  quoted  on  Paken- 
ham's  delay,  i,  399,  400;  quoted  on 
artillery    battle,  418  -  20;    bravery, 
421. 
Hill,  Isaac,  i,  63;  supports  Jackson,  ii, 
160,  163,  190,  195;  denounces  Clay, 
195;   visits  Washington,   208;   nomi- 
nation for  Second    Comptroller  re- 
jected,   221;    his    "abuse    of    Mrs. 
Adams,"  221-23;  elected  a  Senator, 
223,  251;  quoted,  241,  242,  244,  264, 
266,  note,   295;   "missionary  tour," 
269,  271;  bets  on  Jackson,  271;  with 
Jackson  in  Boston,  303-04;  gathers 
Revolutionary     veterans,     308;     de- 
nounces Clay  and  Calhoun,  320. 
Hill,  Sir  Rowland,  quoted,  i,  396. 
Hilligshagee,  i,  337. 
Hillingsabee,  chief,  i,  303. 
Himollomico,  "Prophet,"  ii,  in;  cap- 
tured, 123,  124;  hanged,  125,  126. 


4i8 


INDEX 


Hind,  Captain,  i,  346,  347;  at  New 
Orleans,  376    387,  390,  427;  ii,  47- 

House  of  Representatives,  orders  in- 
vestigation of  Jackson's  action  in 
Florida,  ii.  134,  135;  sustains  him, 
136;  passes  bill  for  renewal  of  charter 
to  United  States  Bank,  259;  debates 
Jackson's  veto  message,  265,  266; 
passes  resolutions  unfavorable  to  the 
Bank,  325,326. 

Houston,  Sam,  i,  26,  ^^^  245,  294;  Gov- 
ernor of  Tennessee,  ii,  186;  supports 
Jackson,  188;  battle  of  San  Jacinto, 
350-52;  aided  by  Jackson,  351. 

Hoyt,  Jesse,  ii,  271. 

Hudson  Bay  Company,  ii,  338. 

Hull,  Captain  Isaac,  victory  over  Brit- 
ish frigate,  i,  257. 

Hull,  General  WUliam,  surrenders  De- 
troit, i,  255-57;  tried  and  sentenced 
to  be  shot  for  treason,  256;  pardoned 
by  the  President,  256. 

Humbert,  ii,  37,  46,  47- 

Humphrey,  Captain,  ii,  8. 

Humphrey's  battery,  i,  344,  346,  347, 

Humphreys,  Samuel,  ii,  397. 

Humphries,  Dr.  David,  i,  36. 

Hutchings,  John,  Jackson's  partner,  i, 
129,  130,  146, 150. 

Hutchinson,  Elizabeth,  i,  30. 

Impartial  Review  and  Cumberland  Re- 
pository, i,  158,  162. 

Indiana  Territory,  volunteers,  i,  425, 
426. 

Indians,  warfare  in  Tennessee,  i,  8^, 
84,  85-89;  removal  West,  ii,  402-04. 

IngersoU,  Ralph,  ii,  400. 

Ingham,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  ii, 
249,  250,  251;  flees  from  Major 
Eaton,  252. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  father  of  General 
Jackson,  emigrates  to  the  United 
States,  i,  16,  17,  19-22;  settles  at 
Twelve  Mile  Creek,  22,  23;  death, 

23,  24. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  Jr.,  Jackson's  adopt- 
ed son,  described,  ii,  386-89, 

Jackson,  General  Andrew,  parents 
emigrate  to  America,  i,  16,  17,  19-23; 
death  of  father,  23,  24;  birth,  24, 
26-29;  ancestry,  29-33;  education, 
34-38,  40;  fondness  for  young  girls, 
34,  35;  first  "proclamaiion,"  40,  41; 
anecdote  of  King's  Mountain,  45; 
anecdote  of  Whig  and  Tory  animos- 
ity, 46,  note,  50;  part  in  the  Revolu- 
tion, 51-53;  affection  for  mother  53, 
54;  death  of  mother,  55;  words  of  ad- 
vice from  mother,  56,  57;  becomes 
heir  to  part  of  Hugh  Jackson's  es- 
tate, 57;  effect  of  the  Revolution  on 
his  character,  57-60;  haired  of  Eng- 


land, 60;  works  at  saddler's  trade, 
60;  determines  to  study  law,  60,  61; 
wild  traits,  61;  goes  to  Charleston, 
61;  spends  his  inheritance,  61; 
teaches  school  and  studies  law,  61; 
admitted  to  the  bar,  62,  65;  ofi'ends 
Captain  Galbraith,  62-64;  studies 
law  with  Spruce  McKay,  64;  finishes 
his  reading  with  Colonel  Stokes, 
64;  friendship  for  Montford  Stokes, 
65;  journeys  to  McLeans^alle,  65; 
"hangs  out  his  shingle,"  66;  con- 
stable and  deput\--sheriff,  66;  prose- 
cuting attorney,  66;  description  of, 
at  the  age  of  twenty,  67-69;  emi- 
grates to  Tennessee,  70-72,  77-79; 
arrives  at  Nashville,  79;  Indian  war- 
fare, 84-87,  90;  early  law  practice, 
90-94;  his  office  and  home,  94-96; 
marriage  to  Rachel  Donelson  Ro- 
bards,  97-103;  duels  with  Avery  and 
Benton,  103,  104,  214;  law  practice 
from  1789-96,  104;  hail-fellow-well- 
met,  104,  105;  as  a  story  -  teller, 
105;  decreases  scope  of  his  law  prac- 
tice, 106;  farm  at  Hunter's  Hill,  105; 
ambition,  105;  admission  of  Ten- 
nessee to  Statehood,  107-13;  parlia- 
mentary tactics,  no;  vitality  of  his 
speeches,  no,  in;  elected  Repre- 
sentative in  Congress  from  Tennes- 
see, 112;  journeys  on  horseback  from 
Nashville  to  Philadelphia,  113,  114; 
first  experience  in  Congress,  114; 
votes  against  "Address  to  the  Presi- 
dent," 115-17;  key  to  his  policy  and 
action,  117;  carries  an  appropria- 
tion to  pay  expenses  of  the  "  Etowah 
Expedition,"  117-20;  votes  for  in- 
crease of  the  na\'}',  120,  121;  ap- 
pointed Senator,  121;  resigns  and  re- 
tires to  private  life,  121,  125,  126; 
objection  to  secret  sessions,  121,  122; 
makes    acquaintances  in    Congress, 

122,  123;  disinclination  for  society, 

123,  124;  makes  acquaintance  of 
Thomas  Jefferson,  124;  develops  his 
plantation,  126-30;  becomes  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Tennessee, 
131;  anecdotes  of  his  judicial  career, 
131-45;  feud  with  Governor  Sevier, 
134-43;  elected  major-general,  139; 
prosperity  of  his  plantation,  145, 
146;  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy, 
146,  147;  loses  his  land  and  money, 
147;  desires  appointment  of  governor 
of  Louisiana,  147-49;  makes  finan- 
cial arrangements  in  Philadelphia, 
150;  buys  thoroughbred  horses  in 
Virginia,  150;  resigns  from_  the  bench, 
150,  151;  military  career  in  Tennes- 
see, 151;  prepares  himself  for  war 
with  England,  152;  legal  advisers, 
152;   various   commercial   interests, 


INDEX 


419 


153;  duel  with  Dickinson,  153,  154, 
155,  158-82;  duel  with  Colonel  Ave- 
ry. 155-57;  canes  Swann,  158,  161, 
162, 163;  estimate  of  Burr  and  Ham- 
ilton, 171-73;  wounded  by  Dickin- 
son, 175;  entertains  Aaron  Burr,  188; 
receives  Burr's  confidence  concern- 
ing his  scheme,  188;  relations  with 
Burr,  190-93,  195,  202;  correspond- 
ence with  Burr,  191,  192;  vague- 
ness of  Burr's  scheme,  195;  informed 
of  Burr's  disloyalty,  195;  asks  Burr 
to  clear  himself,  196;  warns  Gover- 
nor Claiborne,  196;  offers  militia  to 
Jefferson,  196;  suspicion  of  Wilkin- 
son, 196,  197,  201;  annoyed  by  dem- 
onstration against  Burr,  198;  in- 
direct attack  by  his  enemies,  199, 
200;  warns  Captain  Bissell,  200; 
Bissell's  reply,  201;  opinion  of  Gen- 
eral Dearborn,  201;  disbands  his 
army,  201;  commended  by  Jefferson, 
202;  incensed  by  Burr's  arrest  in 
Alabama,  202;  witness  at  Burr's 
trial  for  treason  in  Richmond,  203; 
denounces  Wilkinson,  203;  de- 
nounces Jefferson,  204,  205;  re- 
turns home,  207,  210;  purposes  of 
his  Richmond  speech,  207;  dislike 
of  Jefferson,  207-09,  227;  opinion  of 
Madison,  209,  business  affairs  in 
Philadelphia,  210;  description  of, 
at  the  age  of  forty,  211-14;  financial 
straits,  214-18;  kindness  to  Mrs. 
Jackson's  relatives,  215,  216;  sells 
majority  of  his  property;  218;  ag- 
ricultural methods,  219;  breeds  fa- 
mous horses,  219-21;  a  gambler, 
221;  home  fife,  222-27;  the  Hermi- 
tage, 226;  gains  political  control  of 
Tennessee,  227-30;  perfects  his  di- 
vision of  militia,  230-32;  discovers 
Benton,  232,  233,  relations  with, 
233-35;  wrongs  Samuel  Dinsmore, 
238-241;  compared  with  General 
Harrison,  243,  244;  proclamation  to 
his  troops  on  the  outbreak  of  war  in 
18 1 2,  253,  254;  tenders  services  of 
2,500  Tennessee  volunteers  for  the 
war,  254,  255;  opinion  on  Hull's 
surrender  of  Detroit,  256,  257;  or- 
dered to  Natchez,  258;  buys  rifles  for 
his  troops,  259;  starts  for  Mississip- 
pi, 259;  in  camp  at  Natchez,  263-65; 
issues  disciplinary  order,  264;  or- 
dered to- disband  his  command,  266, 
269;  disregards  this  order,  267,  268, 
269,  276;  takes  his  command  home 
intact,  268-70;  offers  to  march  on 
Detroit,  270;  his  division  disbands, 
271;  his  drafts  for  supplies  tor  his 
command  protested,  272;  blames 
Wilkinson,  272-74;  drafts  finally 
paid  by  the  Government,  owing  to 


Benton's  persuasion,  275;  disliked 
by  Armstrong,  278;  second  for  Car- 
roll in  his  duel  with  Jesse  Benton, 
285,  286;  his  bravery  compared  with 
Benton's,  287;  becomes  involved  in 
quarrel  with  Benton,  288;  attempts 
to  horsewhip  Benton,  288;  duel  wiih 
Benton,  289;  severely  wounded,  289, 
290,  291;  effects  of  this  quarrel,  290, 
291;  causes  of  the  Creek  outbreak, 
293;  directs  movements  of  troops 
from  sick-bed,  295;  takes  command 
while  still  sick,  296;  wound  heals, 
297;  moves  on  Creeks,  297,  298; 
failure  of  supplies,  298,  299,  306, 
312;  discontent  among  troops,  299- 
301;  orders  Colonel  Coffee  to  attack 
Creeks  at  Tallushatchee,  302;  pro- 
vides for  an  Indian  boy,  303,  note; 
tribute  to  Colonel  Coff'ee,  304;  learns 
of  proposed  massacre  by  the  Creeks 
at  Talladega,  306,  307;  march  to 
Talladega,  307,  308;  defeats  Creeks 
under  Weatherford,  308-10;  diso- 
beyed by  General  White  312;  de- 
sertion and  mutiny  of  militia,  313- 
16;  appeals  to  Governor  Blount  for 
more  troops,  316,  317,  322;  his  com- 
mand re-enforced,  317,  323;  defeats 
the  Creeks  at  Emuckfau,  318-20; 
falls  back  toward  Talladega,  320; 
attacked  by  Creeks  at  Enotichopco, 
320;  again  victorious,  321;  obtains 
supplies,  323;  assembles  his  new 
forces  at  Fort  Strother,  324;  quells 
mutiny  by  having  leader  shot,  324- 
26;  starts  down  the  Coosa,  326; 
builds  Fort  WUliams,  326;  battle  of 
Tohopeka,  326-29;  builds  "Fort 
Jackson,"  330,  331;  terms  to  the 
Creeks,  7,2,  i ;  interview  with  Weather- 
ford,  32>^-2>S\  starts  for  home,  336; 
becomes  very  sick,  336;  appointed 
major-general  in  the  regular  army, 
336;  negotiates  treaty  with  the 
Creeks,  336-338;  ordered  to  Mobile, 
340;  learns  of  Spanish  violations  of 
neutrality,  344,  345;  notifies  Secre- 
tary of  War,  345,  346;  determines  to 
invade  Pensacola,  346;  gets  new  bri- 
gade from  Governor  Blount,  346, 
347,  356;  starts  his  forces  for  Pensa- 
cola, 347;  "diplomatic  correspond- 
ence" with  Don  Gonzales  Man- 
riques,  348,  349;  assumes  responsi- 
bility for  invasion  of  Spanish  Florida, 
349-52;  delay  in  receiving  his  in- 
structions, 350-352;  demands  sur- 
render of  Fort  St.  Michael,  353; 
compels  surrender  of  fort,  354,  355; 
evacuation  of  Fort  Barrancas,  355; 
returns  to  Mobile,  356;  learns  of 
British  designs,  358,  359,  364,  365; 
moves  his  forces  to  Louisiana,  360; 


420 


INDEX 


asks  for  additional  troops,  360;  situ- 
ation at  New  Orleans,  361-63;  en- 
tertained by  Madame  Livingstone, 
365-69;  chivalric  manners,  367,  368; 
prepares  for  defence  of  New  Orleans, 
369,  372,  376;  learns  of  British  land- 
ing at  Bienvenue,  373;  strength  of 
his  forces  at  New  Orleans,  376;  pro- 
claims martial  law,  377,  378;  vexed 
at  lack  of  Louisiana  volunteers,  378- 
80;  impresses  men,  380;  anecdotes 
of,  by  Vincent  Nolte,  382-84;  de- 
clares intention  of  making  night  at- 
tack on  British,  3S2;  inspires  his 
troops,  383,  402;  night  attack  on 
British,  387,  390-94;  both  sides 
claim  the  victory,  394-97;  results  of 
the  attack,  397;  losses,  398;  builds 
breastworks  unmolested  by  British, 
398,  399,  400-02;  suffers  from  dysen- 
tery, 404;  plentiful  supplies,  404; 
strengthens  post  at  Chef  Menteur, 
404,  405;  uses  cotton-bales  in  de- 
fences, 405-09;  motley  collection  of 
artillery,  405,  406;  strictness  of  dis- 
cipline, 409;  strengthens  his  lines, 
412,  413-15;  puzzled  by  Pakenham's 
delay,  413,  414,  422,  423;  activity, 
415;  prepares  to  meet  British  attack, 
417;  strength  of  artillery,  417,  418; 
defeats  British  in  artillery  battle, 
418-22;  humor,  423;  arrival  of  troops 
from  Kentucky,  Indiana,  and  Baton  • 
Rouge,  423-26;  lack  of  arms,  424, 
425,  426;  strength  of  his  army  at  New 
Orleans,  426-31;  obtains  informa- 
tion from  deserters,  ii,  5,  6;  infer- 
ences concerning  British  attack,  5,6; 
inspects  his  line,  8,  9;  food  of  his 
army,  9;  personal  knowledge  of  his 
men,  10;  battle  of  New  Orleans,  11- 
31;  accuracy  of  his  marksmen,  13, 
14,  20,  21,  35;  restrains  his  troops 
from  following  the  British,  26,  27; 
British  losses,  32-35,  40,  41;  re- 
bukes General  Lambert,  33;  exe- 
cution done  by  artillery  and  rifles, 
40,  42;  tribute  to  his  army,  44,  note ; 
vigilance  after  the  battle,  45-47)  49> 
50;  arms  militia  with  British  mus- 
kets, 48,  49;  Treaty  of  Ghent  signed, 
49;  maintains  martial  law,  50;  value 
of  his  victory,  52,  70;  hardships  en- 
dured by  his  army,  52,  53;  embarka- 
tion of  the  British,  52;  continued 
vigilance,  53,  54,  55-57;  arranges 
for  exchange  of  prisoners,  54;  offi- 
cially notified  of  peace,  57;  restores 
civil  authority,  57;  disbands  his 
army,  57,  58;  character  of  his  army, 
58-63;  reasons  for  British  failure, 
63-69;  explains  British  designs  in 
Louisiana,  76-78;  fined  for  contempt 
of  court,  89,  90;  explains  his  action, 


91;  settles  war  claims,  91-94;  pop- 
ularity, 91,  94;  spread  of  his  fame, 
94,  95;  social  life  in  New  Orleans, 
95;  devotion  to  Mrs.  Jackson,  97; 
returns  to  Nashville,  98;  enthusiastic 
reception,  98;  illness,  99;  starts 
for  Washington,  99;  banqueted  at 
Lynchburg,  99,  100;  on  friendly 
terms  with  Jefferson,  100;  lionized 
in  Washington,  100;  conference  wiih 
Monroe  and  Brown,  loi;  command- 
er of  the  Southern  Military  Division, 
loi;  arranges  his  command,  102; 
returns  to  New  Orleans  by  way  of 
Nashville,  102;  treaties  and  negotia- 
tions with  Indians,  102-05;  sympa- 
thy for  them,  105;  correspondence 
with  Monroe,  106-08;  estimate  of 
Madison,  107,  108;  declines  nom- 
ination for  Secretary  of  War,  108; 
correspondence  with  General  Scott, 
109,  no;  with  General  Adair,  no; 
takes  command  in  Florida,  1 14-19; 
raises  volunteers,  11 7-19;  builds 
Fort  Gadsen,  119;  demands  sur- 
render of  St.  Marks,  120,  121;  or- 
ders hanging  of  Francis  and  Himol- 
lomico,  125,  126;  arrests  Arbuthnot, 
126;  marches  against  Suwanee,  127; 
captures  Ambrister,  128;  approves 
death  sentences  of  Ambrister  and 
Arbuthnot,  128,  129;  returns  to  Fort 
Gadsen,  129,  130;  marches  on  Pen- 
sacola,  130,  131;  surrender  of  Fort 
Barrancas,  131;  end  of  the  "Florida 
war,"  131;  returns  to  Nashville,  132; 
"declares  his  platform,"  132 ;  a  much- 
discussed  man,  133,  134;  seriously 
ill,  134;  goes  to  Washington,  135; 
sustained  by  House  of  Representa- 
tives, 136;  attends  receptions  and 
dinners,  137;  upheld  by  J.  Q.  Adams, 
139-41;  quiet  life  at  home,  141; 
forces  white  men  to  evacuate  Indian 
reservations,  142,  143;  resigns  from 
the  regular  army,  143-45;  farewell 
address  to  his  troops,  145-47;  criti- 
cises Congress  for  reducing  the 
army,  145;  criticises  General  Brown, 
145,  146;  appointed  Governor  of 
Florida,  147,  148;  arrests  Don  Jose 
Callava,  148-50;  resigns  and  returns 
home,  151;  desire  for  private  life, 
155-57;  presidential  candidate,  158, 
161,  168,  169;  popularity,  159,  160; 
elected  Senator,  162;  takes  seat  in 
the  Senate,  163;  reconciliation  with 
Benton,  163-65;  attitude  on  the 
tariff,  166;  opposes  Clay,  166;  up- 
holds "Monroe  Doctrine,"  167;  po- 
litical beliefs,  169,  170;  returns  to 
Tennessee,  171;  starts  for  Washing- 
ton with  Mrs.  Jackson,  171;  resumes 
seat  in  Senate,   172;   meeting  with 


INDEX 


421 


Lafayette,  172,  173;  results  of  the 
election,   172,    174,    175;   suspicions 
of  Adams  and   Clay,    177;   returns 
home,  177;  resigns  seat  in  the  Senate, 
177;  entertains  Lafayette,   178;   re- 
gains health,  178,  179;  intentions  to 
run  again  for  the  Presidency,   180; 
begins  presidential  campaign,   181, 
182;    personnel  of  his  staff,  183-88; 
poUtical    organizations    in    various 
States,  188-90;  character  of  the  cam- 
paign,   193-97;    his    reputation    as- 
sailed, 195;  holds  Adams  responsi- 
ble for  slander  of  Mrs.  Jackson,  196; 
real    issue    of    the    campaign,    198; 
notified   of   his   election,    199,    200; 
death   of    Mrs.    Jackson,    201;    his 
grief,  201,  202;  at  her  funeral,  202, 
203;   believes  that  slanders  caused 
her  death,  204;  his  inaugural  mes- 
sage, 204-06,  207,  journeys  to  Wash- 
ington   by     the    Cumberland    and 
Ohio  rivers  and  the  National  Road, 
207;  accessible  to  the  people,  208; 
his   Cabinet,  209;   policy  regarding 
oflace-holders,    216-18,    221;    recalls 
General  Harrison,  219-21;  attitude 
toward  the  "abuse  of  Mrs.  Adams," 
223;  causes  election  of  Mr.  Hill  to 
Senate,  223;  the  Mrs.  Eaton  "affair," 
225-32;  review  of  his  first  presiden- 
tial year,  233;  his  first  annual  rnes- 
sage,  233;  attacks  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  233-37;  opposes  Federal  ap- 
propriations  for   internal    improve- 
ments, 238;  attitude  on  State-rights 
and    the    Federal    Union,    239-45; 
learns    of    Calhoun's    enmity,    240; 
attends    Jefferson's    banquet,    240; 
his  famous  toast,  241;  crushes  Cal- 
houn,  241-42;   warns   South   Caro- 
Una,  245,  246;  reorganizes  his  Cabi- 
net, 247-51;  social  difficulty  caused 
by  Mrs.  Eaton,   248;   political  dis- 
cipline, 260-63;  renominated  for  the 
Presidency,   264;   vetoes   act  to  re- 
charter  the  Bank,  264,  265;  bullet, 
received  in  his  duel   with  Benton, 
extracted,  267,  268;  returns  to  the 
Hermitage,  268,  269;  political  carn- 
paign,  269-72;  learns  of  trouble  in 
South  Carolina,  272,  273;  announces 
intention  to  use  rigorous  measures 
in   South   Carohna,    274-76;   confi- 
dence in  re-election,  274,  276,  277; 
returns   to   Washington,    277;    con- 
cern about  South  Carolina,  277-79; 
re-elected,  279-81;  proclamation  to 
the  Nullifiers,  282,  283;  special  mes- 
sage to  Congress,  requesting  more 
explicit  means  of  enforcing  the  laws, 
283;  Calhoun  learns  of  his  prepara- 
tions, 284;  signs  compromise  tariff 
bill,  285-87;  founds  the  Washington 


Globe,  287-88;  friendship  with  Fran- 
cis  P.   Blair,    290;    "The    Kitchen 
Cabinet,"     291-93;     supported     by 
Webster  and  Adams,   294;  praised 
for  his  stand  for   the   Union,   294; 
friendly     relations     with     Webster, 
295-300;  animosity  to  Clay  and  Cal- 
houn,  296;   formality   with  Adams, 
296,  297;  Webster's  estimate  of,  297, 
298;  his  estimate  of  Webster,  298, 
299;   states   why    Clay   or  Webster 
could  not  be  elected  to  the  Presi- 
dency, 300;   predicts  General  Har- 
rison's election,  301;  outhnes  Whig 
programme    for     1836,     302;     "no 
politician,"  302;  tour  through  New 
England,    302;     anecdote    of    Mrs. 
Eaton,    303;    enthusiastic   reception 
in  Boston,  303,  304;  at  Cambridge, 
304;   receives   degree   of   Doctor  of 
Laws,  305;    troubled   with    hemor- 
rhage,   306;   demonstration  in  New 
York,  306;  at  Bunker  Hill,  306;  at 
Concord,  N.  H.,  306,  307;  return  to 
Washington,  307,  311;  his  meeting 
with    Revolutionary    veterans,    308, 
309;  meets  veteran  of  New  Orleans, 
309,  310;  ability  as  an  impromptu 
speaker,  310;  tribute  to  Paul  Jones, 
311;  war  with  United  States  Bank, 
311  et  seq. ;    proposes  to  withdraw 
Federal  deposits,  311-13;  attack  by 
Clay  and  Calhoun,  319-21;  idea  of 
an  all-coin  system,  323;  censured  by 
the    Senate     323,    324;    his   protest 
overruled,  324  ;    proposed  irnpeach- 
ment,  325;  threatened  assassination, 
328;  his  policy  vindicated,  329;  an- 
ecdotes of  his  journey  to  the  West, 
330,  331;  characterizes  session  of  the 
Twenty- third  Congress,  331;  rests  at 
his  home,  331-33;  returns  to  Wash- 
ington, 334  ;  hatred  of  Clay,  335,  336; 
contempt  of  Calhoun,  336,  337;  ac- 
cumulation of  surplus  specie,  337- 
338;  extinguishment  of  the  national 
debt,  338;    Oregon  boundary  ques- 
tion,    338-41;     French     spoliation 
claims,  342-45;  chooses  Van  Buren 
as  his  successor,  345-47;  elated  at 
result  of  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto, 
350-52;    aids    Sam    Houston,    351, 
note;  movement  to  annex  Texas,  353; 
slavery   agitation,   353,   354;   Clay's 
censure  expunged  from  the  journal 
by  the  Senate,  355;  retirement,  355; 
impoverished  by  lavishness  with  his 
money,   356-59;    influence   on   Van 
Buren,  359,  361,  362;  compared  with 
Van  Buren,  360;  last  journey  from 
Washington  to  Nashville,  366,  367; 
prophesies  J.  K.  Polk's  election,  367, 
368;  condition  of  his  plantation,  369; 
his  debts,  370,  386;  resumes  interest 


422 


INDEX 


in  political  affairs,  371;  fears  Harri- 
son's election,  372;  "lakes  stump" 
against  Harrison,  373-75;  after  V'an 
Buren's  defeat,  375,  376;  question  of 
Van  Buren's  successor,  376,  377; 
deceived  by  Democratic  party  on 
the  Oregon  question,  378;  advocates 
Polk's  election,  379;  correspondence 
■u-ith  Adams,  3S0;  elated  at  Polk's 
election,  38 1;  disapproves  of  Bu- 
chanan, as  Secretar}-  of  State,  382; 
indorses  Benton,  382;  rapid  failure 
of  health,  383,  3S4;  described  by 
Mrs.  Polk,  3S4,  385;  makes  new  will 
and  testament,  386;  his  adopted  son, 
386-89;  estimate  of  Burr  389,  390; 
religious  tendencies,  389,  390-92; 
joins  the  Orthodox  Presbyterian 
Church,  390;  his  death,  392;  anec- 
dotes of  his  character  and  personal- 
ity, 392-406;  his  friends  and  ac- 
quaintances, 394,  395;  faculty  for 
remembering  faces,  395;  attempted 
assassination,  399,  400;  his  tastes 
and  habits,  406,  407;  kindness  to  his 
slaves,  407-10;  a  "fighting  man," 
410,  411;  his  place  in  history,  411, 
412. 

Letters:  General  Daniel  Smith,  i,  81; 
George  W.  Campbell,  148,  202,  240, 
257;  Edward  Livingston,  148; 
Charles  Dickinson,  166;  Mr.  Eastin, 
180;  Governor  Claiborne,  196;  Pat- 
ten Anderson,  201,  203;  John  Coffee, 
210;  Governor  Blount,  254,  316,  317, 
325,  346;  Monroe,  ii,  107,  108,  114; 
Colonel  George  Wilson,  180;  Secre- 
tary Duane,  311;  Sam  Houston,  352; 
353;  Representative  Brown,  379, 
380;  General  Butler,  378;  J.  K.  Polk, 

392- 

Jackson,  Governor  Claiborne  F., 
ii,  279,  note. 

Jackson,  Hugh,  i,  16,  20,  21,  24; 
lives  with  the  McCamies,  ^y, 
volunteers,   41;     death,   42. 

Jackson,  Mrs.  Andrew,  mother  of  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  i,  16;  death  of  hus- 
band, 23,  24;  lives  with  the  Craw- 
fords,  33;  intercedes  for  American 
prisoners  on  the  British  hulks 
in  Charleston  harbor,  54,  55;  dies 
from  yellow  fever,  55;  advice  to  her 
son,  5'6,  57;    ii,  411- 

Jackson,  Mrs.  Andrew  [see  Rachel 
Donelson  Robards],  a  capable 
planter,  129,  130,  219;  described, 
222,  224,  226;  home  life,  222,  224, 
226;  joins  General  Jackson  in 
New  Orleans,  ii,  95-97;  described 
by  Benton,  95;  entertained  by 
Mrs.  Livinc^ston,  96;  devotion  of 
husband,  97;  returns  home,  98; 
in    Florida,    151-55;     in    Washing- 


ton, 171-74;  describes  Jackson's 
meeting  with  Lafayette,  172,  173; 
threatened  with  fatty  degenera- 
tion of  the  heart,  179,  180;  fore- 
sees Jackson's  election  to  Presi- 
dency, 180,  181;  slandered,  196; 
learns  of  Jackson's  election,  199, 
200;  death,  201;  grief  of  Jack- 
son, 201,  202;  her  funeral,  202,  203; 
letters  to  Colonel  Donelson,  ii,  151, 
152;  Mrs.  Kingsley,  152-55;  Mary 
Donelson,    157,    158. 

Jackson,  Robert,  i,  16,  24, 33;  death,  51. 

Jackson,  Sam,  ii,  40S,  409. 

Jackson,  Samuel,  i,  21. 

"Jason,"  Jackson's  overseer,  ii,  369. 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  recognizes  Jack- 
son's force  and  power,  124;  satis- 
fied with  Jackson's  relations  to 
Burr,  202;  character,  207;  be- 
comes life-long  enemy  of  Jackson, 
208;  presides  at  banquet  in  Jack- 
son's honor,  ii,  100;  praises  J.  Q. 
Adams,  141;  banquet  in  his  honor, 
240-43. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  quoted,  i,  179. 
ohnson.  Colonel  Richard  M.,  ii,  231. 

Johnson,  Sir  William,  i,  75. 

Johnston,  General,  i,  323,  326;  mu- 
tiny in  his  brigade,  324. 

Jones,  Lieutenant  Ap  Catesby,  i, 
370;  outnumbered  and  defeated  by 
British  squadron,  371,  375. 

Jones,  Paul,  compared  with  Jack- 
son, ii,  308;  Jackson's  tribute  to, 
311;  challenged  by  a  Frenchman 
to  a  duel,  410. 

Jugeat,  Captain,  i,  245,  note,  294, 
326,  344,  348;  his  Company  of 
Choctaws,  376,  387;  skirmish  with 
British,  411;  at  New  Orleans, 
ii,  30. 

Keane,  General  Sir  John,  at  New 
Orleans,  i,  372,  373;  strength  of  his 
land  forces,  374,  375;  does  not  ex- 
pect night  attack,  385;  over-esti- 
mates American  force,  386;  attacked 
at  night,  387-94;  question  as  to  the 
victory,  394-97;  losses,  398;  wound- 
ed, 398;  at  council  of  war,  412,  413; 
ii,  i;  battle  of  New  Orleans,  22; 
wounded,  28;  mistakes,  65,  66. 

Kendall,  Amos,  quoted,  i,  26,  154, 
ii,    244;     Postmaster-General,    359. 

King,  Brigade-Major,  ii,  31. 

King,  Colonel  William,  ii,   132. 

King,   Rufus,  i,   113,   184. 

King's  Mountain,  battle  of,  i,  44,  45; 
anecdote,    45. 

"Kitchen  Cabinet,"  ii,  291-93. 

Lacock,  Mr.,  ii,  136,  137,  138. 
Lacoste,  Major,  i,  405. 


INDEX 


4^3 


Lafayette,  ii,  66,  note,  156;  meeting 
with  Jackson,  172,  173;  visits  Jack- 
son, 178. 

Lafltte,  Jean,  gives  information  of 
British  designs  to  Governor  Clai- 
borne, i,  358,  359. 

Lake  Borgne,  battle  of,  i,  370,  371. 

Lambert,  General  John,  i,  432,  ii,  i; 
at  battle  of  New  Orleans,  29,  30; 
rebuked  by  Jackson,  33;  withdraws 
British  army  to  Bienvenue,  46;  re- 
ceives re-enforcements, 47, 48;  re-em- 
barks, 53;  takes  Fort  Bowyer,  53. 

"Lancaster  rifle,"  i,  74. 

Laronde,  Major,  i,  428. 

Latour,  Major,  i,  376,  note,  385; 
quoted,  389;  at  Chef  Menteur,  405; 
uses  cotton-bales  for  embrasures, 
406,  407;  map  of  forces  at  New 
Orleans,  429,  430;  at  New  Orleans, 
ii,  10. 

Laval,  Major,  i,  354. 

Lavasseur,  M.,  ii,  156,  157,  178. 

Lawrence,  Major,  i,  344. 

Lawrence,  ,  ii,  399,  400. 

Learcy,  Thomas,  i,  66. 

Lee,  Henry,  ii,  224. 

Lefebre,  Jules,  i,  418. 

Leopard,  affair  with  Chesapeake,  i,  203. 

Leslie,  Colonel,  i,  54. 

Lewis,  Major  William  Berkeley,  i, 
56,  267,  295,  ii,  104,  134;  quoted, 
178,  200;  Jackson's  secretary,  183; 
accompanies  Jackson  to  Washing- 
ton, 207;  "punishes"  H.  L.  White, 
253,  262;  fears  result  of  Jackson's 
fiscal  policy,  329;    anecdote  of,  330. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  i,  25,  105. 

Lincoln,  General,  i,  42. 

Lincoyer,  i,  303,  jiote. 

Liverpool,  Lord,  ii,  in. 

Livingston,  Edward,  i,  115;  supports 
Jackson,  119;  removes  to  Louisiana, 
i,  149,  note;  military  secretary  to 
Jackson,  365,  377,  387;  ii,  8,  9; 
describes  Jackson  at  Madame  Liv- 
ingston's dinner,  366-68  ;  repar- 
tee, 408;  at  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
ii,  11;  envoy  to  British,  54;  sup- 
ports Jackson,  190;  succeeds  Van 
Buren,  251;  Minister  to  France, 
342,  343;  posthumous  attack  by 
Clay,  374,  note. 

Livingston,  Madame,  entertains  Jack- 
son, i,  365-69  ;  fear  of  the  British 
soldiers'  intentions,  ii,  84,  85;  en- 
tertains Mrs.  Jackson,  96. 

Louailler,  M.,  ii,_56,  57,  58. 

Louis  Philippe,  ii,  342,  343. 

Louisiana,  ship,  i,  412,  414. 

Louisiana  Purchase,  i,  147;  ii,  68,  70. 

Lucas,  Colonel,  killed  by  Benton  in 
duel,  i,  287,  note. 

Lytle,  Colonel  Robert,  ii,  377. 


McCamie,  George,  i,  22,  24,  3^. 

McCamie,  Mrs.  George,  i,  24. 

McCardle,  encounter  with  Indians, 
i,  S5. 

McCauley,  Lieutenant,  i,  341. 

McGary,  Hugh,  i,  78,  91. 

McGary,  Jesse,  i,  294,  306,  319. 

McGary,  Martin,  i,  46-48,  78. 

Mcintosh,  William,  ii,  119;  defeats 
force  under  Peter  Macqueen,  127; 
returns  home,  129. 

McKay,  Spruce,  i,  64. 

McKeever,  Lieutenant,  captures  Fran- 
cis and  HimoUomico,  ii,  123-25; 
commands  coast  of  Florida,  132. 

Mackenzie,  quoted,  ii,  271. 

McKiever,   Lieutenant,   i,   370. 

McKrimmon,  Duncan,  captured  by 
Francis,  ii,  122;  saved  from  burn- 
ing, 122;  escapes,  123;  marries 
Francis's  daughter,  124,  note. 

McLane,  Lewis,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  ii,  251;  ally  of  Jack- 
son,  254. 

McMillin,  James,  i,  45. 

McNairy,  John,  i,  66,  70,  71,  108. 

McNairy,  Nathaniel,  duel  with  John 
Coffee,  i,  163. 

Macomb,  General,  ii,  loi   note. 

Macqueen,  Peter,  ii,  127. 

Madam    ,    search    for   Jackson's 

pedigree,  i,  30-33. 

Madison,  James,  i,  119,  208,  209; 
signs  the  declaration  of  war,  18 12, 
247;  accepts  Jackson's  offer  of 
militia,  255;  pardons  General  Hull, 
256;  caution,  349,  351;  delay  in 
sending  instructions  to  Jackson, 
350-52;  Jackson's  estimate  of, 
ii,   107,   108. 

Madison,  Mrs.,  ii,  51. 

I^Iagness, ,  trial  for  killing  Patten 

Anderson,  i,  236,  237;  serves  under 
Jackson,  237,  238. 

Malcolm,  Admiral,  i  412,  413,  ii,  i. 

Malee,  saves  McKrimmon 's  Ufe,  ii, 
122;    marries  him,  124,  note. 

Malloy,  ,  ii,   393. 

Manriquez,  Don  Gonzales,  Spanish 
Governor  of  Florida,  correspond- 
ence with  Jackson,  i,  348,  349; 
fails  to  obtain  NichoUs'  aid,  353; 
surrenders  Fort  St.  Michael,  355. 

Marcy,  William  L.,  ii,  188. 

Marshall,  Captain,  ii,  129. 

Marshall,  John,  i,  184,  189. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  ii,  400. 

Mason,  Jeremiah,  ii,  210. 

"Mero  District,"  i,  81. 

Mero,  Governor,  note,  i,  82,  188. 

Militia  laws  and  regulations  in  1812, 
i,  245,  246,  342,  343. 

Miranda,  General,  i,  192. 

Mitchell,  Major,  i,  390,  ii,  60. 


424 


INDEX 


Monohoee,  Prophet,"  i,  318,  319; 
deatJi,  330. 

"Monroe  Doctrine,"  origin  of,  ii,  167. 

Monroe,  James,  made  Secretary  of 
War,  i,  346;  invites  Jackson  to 
conference,  ii,  99,  10 1;  corre- 
spondence with  Jackson,  106-108; 
admiration  for  Jackson,  106;  com- 
pared with  Madison  and  Jeffer- 
son. 106;  debates  Jackson,  134; 
upholds  him,  138;  origin  of  the 
"Monroe  Doctrine  "  167;  General 
Stark's  pension,   307. 

Montgomery,  Major,  killed  at  Toho- 
peka,  i,  328. 

Moore,  Dr.  John  S.,  quoted,  i,  287, 
note. 

Morel,  Pierre  Louis,  ii,  56. 

Morgan,  Daniel,  defeats  Tarletoa  at 
Cowpens,  i,  49,  50. 

Morgan,  General  David,  at  New 
Orleans,  ii,  36,  37. 

Mountz,  Lieutenant,  ii,  149,  150. 

Mulford,  — ,  death  of,  i,  52,  53. 

Mullens,  Colonel,  ii,  i,  3. 

Murrell,  Jack,  i,  200,  294,  344. 

Napoleon,  i,  30,  363._ 

Nash,  General  Francis,  i,  80. 

Nash,  Governor  Abner,  i,  80. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  founding  of,  i,  79- 
81;  population  in  1791,  82;  Indian 
wars,   83,   84. 

Nelson,  Horatio,  quoted,  i,  213. 

New  Orleans,  character  of  its  popu/a- 
tion,  i,  361-63,  379,  380;  informa- 
tion of  British  attack  on,  364,  365; 
landing  of  British,  373;  lack  of 
volunteers,  378,  379;  plot  to  sur- 
render the  city,  416;  battle  of, 
ii,  1 1-3 1 ;  British  losses,  32-35; 
denial  of  the  British  intention  to 
plunder,   83. 

NichoUs,  Colonel,  i,  293,  294;  deceives 
the  Creeks,  310,  311;  "proclama- 
tion to  the  people  of  Louisiana," 
345;  refuses  to  aid  Governor  Man- 
riquez,  353;  evacuates  Fort  Bar- 
rancas, 355;  discountenanced  in 
England,  ii,  111-113. 

Nick-a-jack  expedition,  i,  89. 

Nolte,  Vincent,  i,  380,  381;  anec- 
dotes of  Jackson,  381-84,  397; 
his  gallant  behavior  at  New  Or- 
leans, 382;  note,  391;  anecdote 
of  American  bravery,  391;  quoted 
on  Jackson's  use  of  his  cotton-bales, 
407,  408;  as  Jackson's  messenger, 
409,  410;  as  a  duellist,  410,  note; 
settles  his  claims  for  material  seized 
by  Jackson,  ii,  92-94. 

O'Brien,  Lieutenant,  ii,  350,  note. 
Ogden,  Captain,  ii,  47. 


Ogilvy  John  Richard,  i,  407,  note; 
quoted,  408,  409,  415,  note,  425; 
describes  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
ii,  15-18;  his  ballad  of  New  Or- 
leans, 86-88. 

O'Neal,  Miss,  ii,  225. 

O'Neal,  William,  ii,  225. 

Oregon  boundary  question,  ii,  338-41. 

Ormsby,  Lieutenant,  ii,  32. 

Overton,  John,  i,  note,  94,  95;  quoted 
on  the  Robards'  divorce,  99,  100; 
succeeds  Jackson  as  Supreme  Court 
Judge,  151;  Jackson's  counsellor, 
152;  Jackson's  second  in  duel  with 
Avery,  156,  and  in  duel  with  Dick- 
inson, 166,  167,  168,  169;  his 
account  of  the  duel,  170-76;  sup- 
ports Jackson,  ii,  188,  198. 

Pakenham,  Sir  Edward,  delay  in 
attack,  i,  399,  400;  makes  recon- 
naissance, 410,  411;  determines 
strength  and  position  of  American 
batteries,  411,  412;  holds  council 
of  war,  412,  413;  plants  batteries 
near  American  lines,  416,  417; 
use  of  sugar  hogsheads,  417; 
strength  of  artillery,  418;  artillery 
battle,  418-22;  forced  to  withdraw, 
420;  disposition  and  strength  of 
his  army  at  New  Orleans,  431,  432; 
last  council  of  war,  ii,  i;  informa- 
tion from  Spanish  spies,  i,  2;  plans 
attack  on  Jackson's  army,  4;  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  11-24;  wounded, 
24;  death,  28;  designs  in  Louisi- 
ana, 71  et  seq.;  body,  preserved 
in  rum,  sent  to  England,  81,  note. 

Pakenham,  Sir  Richard,  ii,  341. 

Parlon,  James,  his  standing  as  a 
historian,  i,  177,  178. 

Parton's,  James,  Life  of  Andrew 
Jackson,  quoted,  i,  22;  birth,  26, 
27,  28,  29;  anecdote  of  Martin 
McGary,  note,  48;  Code  of  Honor, 
note,  62;  law  cases,  90,  91;  settle- 
ment in  Tennessee,  96;  arrival  in 
Philadelphia,  114;  duel  with  Dick- 
inson, 154,  155,  177,  178;  duel 
with  Avery,  157,  note;  duel  with 
Benton,  290;  proclamation  of  mar- 
tial law  in  New  Orleans,  378,  note; 
breastworks  at  New  Orleans,  401, 
402;  relations  with  Clay,  ii,  368, 
note;    attempted  assassination,  400. 

Patterson,  Commodore,  i,  369,  370; 
night  attack  on  the  British,  387-90; 
mounts  navy  guns,  414,  418;  in 
artillery  battle,  420;  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  ii,  5,  36,  37. 

Peddie,  Lieutenant,  i,  371,  375. 

Percy,    Caplain     William,    i,    344. 

Phillips,  William,  his  famous  ride, 
to  spread  the  news  of  the  outbreak 


INDEX 


425 


of  war  in  1812,  247-53;  orderly  to 
Jackson,  366;  ii,  8,  11;  carries 
news  of  New  Orleans,  50;  a  pros- 
perous planter,  116. 

Pinckney,  General,  i,  336,  341. 

Pipkin,  Colonel,  i,  341. 

Pizarro    Senor    ii,   139. 

Planche's  Battalion,  i,  376,  387;  at 
New  Orleans,  390. 

Planche,  Colonel,  ii,  190. 

Planchine,  J.  B.  and  Co.,  ii,  386, 
409. 

"Plow-Boy,"  i,  158. 

Poindexter,  George,  i,  415,  ii,  190; 
suspected  of  attempted  assassina- 
tion of  Jackson,  400. 

Polk,  Captain  Charles,  ii,  26. 

Polk,  General  William,  ii,  188. 

Polk,  J.  K.,  ii,  324,  326;  his  election 
predicted,  by  Jackson,  367,  368; 
nominated,  379;    elected,  380,  381. 

Polk,  Mrs.  Sarah  Childress,  describes 
the  Jacksons  and  their  home  life, 
i,  223-26;  Jackson's  prophecy  of  her 
husband's  election,  367,  368;  de- 
scribes last  scenes  at  the  Her- 
mitage, 368,  note,  384,  385;  Jack- 
son's bravery,  410,  411. 

Polk,  Robert,  ii,  27,  217. 

Potter,  Mr.,  interview  with  Jackson, 
ii,   245. 

Proctor,  ,  i,  270,  311. 

Putnam,  Colonel  A.  Waldo,  i,  91,  92, 
134,  note;  253,  note;  quoted  on  the 
Jackson-Sevier  feud,  141,  note. 

Quakers,  objection  to  oath  of  fealty, 
note,  i,  7;  objection  to  removal 
of  the  Indians,  ii,  402-404. 

Randolph,  John,  ii,  148,  note;  opposes 
Clay,   176;    supports  Jackson,   188. 

Randolph,  Lieutenant,  ii,  399,  400. 

Rawdon,  Lord,  i,  43,  54. 

Rayner,  Judge  Kenneth,  i,  248. 

Rayner,  Rev.  Dr.  T.  L.,  letter  to  Mr. 
T.  L.  Branch,  i,  248-50. 

"Red  Sticks,"  i,  303,  316. 

Reid,  Major  John,  i,  267,  295;  quoted, 

333- 

Rennie,  Colonel,  i,  422;  battle  of 
New  Orleans,  ii,  30,  31;    death,  31. 

Revolutionary  War,  i,  38;  invades 
the  Carolinas,  41-45. 

Reynolds,  General  John  F.,  note,\,  77. 

Rhea,  Mr.  John,  ii,  114,  115. 

Rifle,  the,  its  part  in  American  his- 
tory, i,  72,  73;  manufacture  in 
America,  73-77;.  history,  73,  74- 

Ritchie,  Thomas,  i,  204,  205. 

Rives,  John  C,  ii,  289. 

Rives,   Mr.,   ii,   357. 

Rives,  William  C,  ii,  342. 

Roane,  Archibald,  i,  131. 


Robards,  Mr.  Lewis,  1,  95,  96;  jeal- 
ousy, 99,  100;  institutes  divorce  pro- 
ceedings,   100-102. 

Robards,  Mrs.  Lewis,  i,  95,  96;  jeal- 
ousy of  her  husband,  99,  100; 
divorce,  100-102;  marries  Andrew 
Jackson,  102,  103,  see  Mrs.  Andrew 
Jackson. 

Roberts,  Captain,  ii,  36. 

Roberts,  Colonel,  i,  308,  309. 

Robertson,  Dr.,  ii,  201. 

Robertson,  General  James,  i,  80; 
quoted,  82,  84;  wounded  by  Indians, 
85;  organizes  expedition  against 
the  Cherokees,  88,  89;  aids  in  nam- 
ing Tennessee,  109;  relations  with 
Burr,  190. 

Robertson,  "Joe,"  ii,  10. 

Rodgers,  Lieutenant,  ii,  125. 

Ross,  i,  306. 

Rutherford,  Griffith,  note,  67. 

Rutherford,  Mrs.  Anne,  i,  67;  her 
description  of  Jackson  at  the  age 
of  twenty,  67-69. 

Rutledge,  Mr.  George,  i,  138,  144,  145, 
156. 

San  Jacinto,  battle  of,  ii,  350-52. 

Sands,  Captain,  i,  53. 

"Scotch  Irish,"  i,  13,  14. 

Scott,  General,  ii,  loi,  note;  corre- 
spondence with  Jackson,  109,  no; 
ordered  to  South  Carolina,  278. 

Scott,  Lieutenant,  ii,  125. 

Senate,  considers  Jackson's  action  in 
Florida,  ii,  136,  137,  138;  passes 
bill  for  renewal  of  charter  to  the 
United  States  Bank,  259;  debates 
Jackson's  veto  message,  265,  266; 
passes  compromise  tariff  bill,  285; 
passes  bill  for  division  of  proceeds 
from  sales  of  public  land,  320; 
passes  resolution  censuring  Jack- 
son, 323,  324;  votes  to  expunge 
Clay's  censure  of  Jackson  from  the 
journal,  355;  rejects  Tyler's  treaty 
for  annexation  of  Texas,  379; 
passes  resolution  admitting  Texas 
to  the  Union,  381. 

Sergeant,  John,  nominated  for  Vice- 
President,  ii,  258. 

Sevier,  Colonel  George  W.,  i,  141,  note. 

Sevier,  Governor,  i,  88,  89,  108,  112; 
feud  with  Jackson,  134-43. 

Seymour,  Horatio,  quoted,  ii,  163-65. 

Shaw,  Major,  ii,  28. 

Shelby,  Governor,  i,  424,   ii,  103,  104. 

Shepherd,  Mr.,  ii,  54. 

Slaughter,  Colonel  Gabriel,  i,  423,  424. 

Smith,  General  Daniel,  i,  81,  125. 

Sousa,  Senor  Domingo,  ii,  148,  149. 

South  Carolina,  threatened  opposi- 
tion to  tariff,  and  proposed  nulli- 
fication, ii,  272  et  seq. 


426 


INDEX 


Spanish  spies,  at  New  Orleans,  ii,  i,  2. 

Spencer,  Captain,  i,  371,  375. 

Spofford,  Hon.  A.  R.,  quoted,  i,  432, 
note. 

Stansberry,  Representative,  ii,  399. 

Stark,  General,  ii,  307. 

Stephens,   Adjutant,   ii,   37. 

Stokes,  Colonel  John,  i,  64. 

Stokes,  Montford,  i,  65;  friendship  for 
Jackson,  65. 

Story,  Judge,  ii,  211. 

Strother,   Captain,  i,  341. 

SuSrage,  i,  3,  4,  5-9. 

Suv/anee,  ii,   126,   127. 

Swann,  Thomas,  caned  by  Jackson, 
158,  161,  162,  163;  demonstration 
against  Burr,  198,  200;  inflames 
Benton  against  Jackson,  288. 

Sylvester,  Captain  William,  ii,  352, 
note. 

Talladega,  battle  of,  i,  306-10. 

Tallushatchee,  battle  of,  i,  302-05. 

Taney,  Roger  B.,  Attorney-General, 
ii,  251;  made  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  317. 

Tarleton,  Colonel,  at  Waxhaws  Settle- 
ment, i,  43;  routed  at  Cowpens,  49, 
50;   censured  by  Cornwallis,  50. 

Tatum,  Howell,  i,  131. 

Tecumseh,  i,  232,  244,  245;  death, 
277. 

Tennessee,  emigration  to,  i,  70-72; 
original  name,  81;  population  in 
1788,  82;  Indian  warfare,  83,  84, 
85-89;  early  legal  practice  in, 
90-94;  growth,  106,  107;  admitted 
to  Statehood,  107-13;  debate  as 
to  name,  108-10;  constitution, 
hi;  Supreme  Court,  131;  militia, 
246;    description  of  troops,  261-63. 

Terrell,  Colonel,  i,  160;  quoted  on 
Dickinson's  death,  175. 

Texas,  admitted  to  the  Union,  ii,  381. 

Thames,  battle  of,  i,  277. 

"The  Subaltern,"  i,  373;  quoted,  389, 
394,  398,  416,  417,  421;  on  battle 
of  New  Orleans,  ii,  22-25, 

Thornton,  Colonel,  ii,  i,  4;  at  New 
Orleans,  35-39;   wounded,  39. 

Timberlake,  Mrs.  Margaret  O'Neal, 
ii,  225,  226. 

Tippecanoe,  battle  of,  i,  244,  245. 

Tohopeka,  i,  battle  of,  326-29. 

Tories  in  the  Carolinas,  i,  38,  39; 
driven  out,  50;  inhumane  treat- 
ment of  Whigs,  43,  58. 

Towson,  Colonel,  ii,  229,  248. 

Treaty  of  Ghent,  ii,  49,  75. 

Triplett,  Dr.,  ii,  267. 

Trist,  Nicholas  P.,  ii,  269. 

Truman's,  Major  Ben,  Annals  of  the 
Field  of  Honor,  i,  154,  160. 

"Truxton,"  i,  150,  158,  220,  221,  247. 


Tyler,  John,  succeeds  General  Har» 
rison  as  President,  ii,  377;  sends 
treaty  for  annexation  of  Texas  to 
the  Senate  378,  379;  signs  resolution 
admitting  Texas  to  ihe  Union,  3S1. 

United  States,  epochs  in  histon,-,  i, 
i;  suffrage,  1 789-1824,  5-10;  emi- 
gration, 18,  19;  friction  with  Spain, 
191;  declares  war  against  Great 
Britain,  242;  strength  of  the  navy 
and  army,  243,  244;  population  in 
181 2,  243;  officers,  244;  militia  laws 
and  regulations,  245,  246. 

United  States  Bank,  attacked  by 
Jackson,  ii,  233-237;  upheld  by 
Congress,  238;  campaign  against, 
by  Benton,  247;  question  of  its  re- 
charter,  255-257;  memorial  for  re- 
newal of  charter,  258,  259;  passed 
by  Congress,  259;  vetoed  by  Jack- 
son, 264,  265;  fight  in  Congress,  265, 
266;  alleged  bribery  of  Webster, 
298,  299;  Jackson's  proposal  to 
withdraw  Federal  deposits,  311-13; 
Jackson's  war  on,  314  et  seq.;  un- 
favorable resolutions  passed  by  the 
House,  325,  326. 

Urquhart,  Lieutenant,  ii,  61,  62. 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  quoted  on  Jack- 

,  son's  reconciliation  with  Benton, 
ii,  163-65;  supports  Jackson,  188; 
goes  to  England,  251,  253;  nomina- 
tion for  Presidency  defeated,  254; 
nominated  for  Vice-Presidency,  264; 
chosen  as  Jackson's  successor,  345- 
47;  elected  President,  350;  his  Cab- 
inet, 359;  Jackson's  influence  on, 
359,  361,  362;  compared  with  Jack- 
son, 360;  his  farewell  message,  362- 
66;  renominated,  373;  defeated,  375. 

Vaughan,  Miss,  ii,  393. 

Vidal,  Nicolas  Maria,  ii,  148. 

Waddell,  Colonel,  ii,  306. 

Walker,  Judge,  i,  154,  401. 

Walkup,  General,  i,  22. 

War  of  181 2,  declared,  i,  242;  strength 
of  American  army  and  navy,  242, 
243;  American  officers,  243;  militia 
laws  and  regulations,  245-46;  how 
the  news  of  the  declaration  was 
spread,  247-53;  victories  won  by 
volunteers.  277. 

Warren,  General,  i,  276. 

Washington,  George,  opinion  on  suf- 
frage, i,  3;  last  appearance  in  Con- 
gress,  115. 

Wattenson,  Harvey,  quoted,  i,  142. 

Watterson,  Henry,  i,  142,  note. 

Waxhaws  Settlement,  i,  22,  39;  de- 
struction of  Colonel  Buford's  troops, 
43- 


INDEX 


427 


Weatherford,  William,  i,  292-93;  pro- 
posed massacre  at  Talladega,  306, 
307;  defeated  by  Jackson,  308-10; 
repulsed  at  Camp  Deliance,  321, 
322;  advice  to  the  Creeks,  330;  sur- 
renders to  Jackson,  332;  interview 
with  Jackson,  332-35;  description 
of,  335".  speech  to  the  chiefs,  337; 
lives  on  his  plantation,  338;  death, 

338. 

Webb,  James  Watson,  11,  18S,  269. 

Webster,  Daniel,  quoted,  ii,  20S;  de- 
bate with  Hayne,  238,  300;  defeats 
Van  Buren's  nomination  for  Presi- 
dency, 254;  favors  delay  in  issue  of 
the  Bank,  256;  supports  Jackson, 
294,  296;  friendly  relations  with 
Jackson,  295-300;  estimate  of  Jack- 
son, 297,  298;  Jackson's  faith  in, 
298,  299;  alleged  bribery  of,  298, 
299;  offers  compromise  re-charter 
to  the  Bank,  321,  322;  speech,  caus- 
ing Senate  to  expunge  Clay's  cen- 
sure of  Jackson  from  the  journal, 

354,  355- 

Webster,  Ezekiel,  ii,  210. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  quoted,  ii,  246,  297. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  duel,  i,  183, 
184;  learns  of  General  Pakenham's 
death,  ii,  Si,  note. 

Wells,  Jonathan,  ii,  308. 

Wheeler's  History  of  North  Carolina, 
quoted,  note,  i,  51. 

Whigs,  supremacy  restored  in  Caro- 
linas,  i,  50;  retaliate  on  Tories, 
note,  50,  58. 

Whitaker,  Brigade-Major,  i,  372; 
death,  ii,  17,  18,  20. 

White,  General,  i,  306;  disobeys  Jack- 
son's orders,  312;  expedition  against 
the    Hillabees,    312,    314;    returns 


home,  311;  results  of  the  expedi- 
tion, 314,  315. 

White,  Hugh  L.,  i,  118,  ii,  187;  re- 
fuses to  resign  from  the  Senate  to 
become  Secretary  of  War,  252,  253; 
the  consequences,  253,  262;  presi- 
dential candidate,  348,  note,  348. 

White,  Joseph,  i,  54,  60. 

White,  Mr.,  ii,  54. 

Whitley,  Major,  i,  89. 

Whitney's  cotton-gin,  i,  127,  note,  127. 

Wickliffe,  Lieutenant  William,  ii,  34. 

Wilkinson,  General,  loyalty  suspected 
by  Jackson,  i,  196,  197;  denounced 
by  Jackson,  203;  at  Natchez,  263, 
269;  refuses  to  approve  Jackson's 
drafts,  272-75;  on  St.  Lawrence,  278. 

William  of  Orange,  i,  292. 

Williams,  Colonel,  i,  45. 

Williams,  Jchn,  ii,  161;  defeated  by 
Jackson,    162. 

Williams.  Lieutenant-Colonel,  i,  323. 

Williams,  Sergeant,  anecdote  of,  ii, 
15,  16. 

Williamson,  Colonel,  ii,  130. 

Wilson,  Dr.  Woodrow,  quoted,  i,  6,  8; 
ii,  260,  261. 

Wirt,  William,  ii,  138,  140,  209. 

Woodbine,  ii,  113. 

Woodbury,  Senator  Levi,  ii,  222;  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy,  251;  at  Cam- 
bridge with  Jackson,  305;  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  359. 

Woods,  John,  executed  for  mutiny, 
i,  324-26. 

Wright,  General,  i,  276. 

Wright,  Silas,  ii,  404. 

Yorke,  Sarah,  ii,  387,  388. 
You,  Dominique,  i,  370,  note;  at  New 
Orleans,  412,  419,  note;  ii,  8,  9. 


..  A  perfect  biography  of  the  famous  sea  ^S^^^^''^^^^^  Tribune, 

PAUL   JONES 

FOUNDER    OF    THE    AMERICAN    NAVY 

A    HISTORY 
BY 

AUGUSTUS    C.    BUELL 

With    Frontispiece   Portraits   in   Color  and  in  Photogravure, 
Maps,  Plans,  etc.     lamo,  2  vols.,  723  pp. 

Price,  $3.00 


John  A.  Long,  Ex-Secretary  of  the  Navy,  writes:  *' I  am 
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sequence,  told  the  story  of  this  naval  hero  which  has  hitherto 
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romance  preponderates  to  the  realm  of  historical  portraiture.  ' 

«  Mr.  Buell  eclipses  all  his  predecessors.  These 
two  volumes  form  a  perfect  biography  of  the  famous  sea- 
fighter,  a  work  which  should  secure  at  once,  and  mdehmtely 
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«  Nor  is  popularity  the  only  reward  which  this  work  deserves. 
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of  some  undreamed-of  material  will  make  a  new  biography  of 
Jones  necessary   for  many   years   to   come.      The   volumes   are 


PAUL    JONES 

FOUNDER    OF    THE   AMERICAN    NAVY 
By  AUGUSTUS  C.   BUELL 

illustrated  by  portraits,  charts,  and  fac-simile  letters,  and  the  value 
of  the  work  is  enhanced  by  an  important  appendix  and  an  index 
carefully  compiled.  Above  all,  it  shows  throughout  the  author's 
deep  familiarity  with  things  martial  and  naval." 

—  The  Philadelphia  Press. 

**  Paul  Jones,  as  a  whole,  has  never  before  been  presented  to 
us,  and  under  the  skillful  hands  of  Mr.  Buell  he  becomes  a  living 
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of  his  life  which  have  been  preserved  has  been  constructed  a 
continuous  and  consistent  story,  full  of  interest,  and  compiled 
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New  York  Times  Saturday  Review. 

**  It  is  evidently  the  fruit  of  a  most  careful  and  loving  study 
of  the  subject,  in  the  light  of  an  exhaustive  research,  such  as  no 
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distinguished  abilities  and  his  wonderful  career,  not  by  the  mere 
assertions  of  partial  biography,  but  by  the  unfolding  of  evidence 
carrying  conviction  in  every  line.  Mr.  Buell  presents  more 
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about  him  still  current." — Army  and  Navy  Jonrnal, 

"  The  ScRiBNERS  have  chosen  well  in  presenting  an  elaborate 
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as  to  the  scholarship  of  the  work." — New  York  Evening  Post. 

CHARLES     SCRIBNER'S     SONS 

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